The Eyes Can Mislead
by Nikelodean
Summary: There's someone out there that can actually control House! But this feisty nurse is not what she appears to be, and House may need her to save the life of someone on his team.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

_**THE EYES CAN MISLEAD**_

**CHAPTER 1**

House stepped off of the elevator as the doors opened. He slowly made his way to the clinic area, looking furtively at the nurse's station. He groaned inwardly when he saw who was working. "Lil' Hateful", as he had dubbed her, was sorting charts. He wondered if one of the stacks had his name on it. Last night, while contemplating the intricacies of the O.C., he had an epiphany.

Whenever Hateful worked in the clinic, he wound up treating way too many patients. He had no idea how she did it, which was the part that really annoyed him. He had already realized early on that she had a tendency to give him the weird cases. "In fact", House thought as he narrowed his eyes at her, "it looks like the pile behind door #3 belongs to me". Hateful had opened the chart, and then burst out laughing before placing it on the smallest pile.

House recognized that laugh. The last time he heard it, he wound up treating a man dressed in a costume who had, while pulling up the zipper in the back, gotten a bunch of back hair along with a good chunk of flesh caught between the zipper teeth. The injury itself wasn't that bad, but considering the patient was a scrawny, hairy man wearing a Superman costume, it was rather funny. He couldn't help but wonder what horror was going to be waiting for him now.

House returned to his previous reflections. Why on earth did this woman inspire him to work? His clinic output nearly quadrupled when she was on duty. He didn't think it was the cases she weeded out to give to him. Maybe it was her attitude. He had dubbed her "Lil' Hateful" because she could actually out-snark him. For every sarcastic, mean thing he said, she zinged him back, usually with something worse. He actually found himself brooding over a comment she had made one day (that was the day her moniker was created). When he had greeted her with the name two days later, she laughed and said that she loved her new name. Then she handed him a file.

Whenever he tried to give Hateful lip about taking patients, she would simply stare at him with her dark, almost black eyes. Something about her eyes bothered him. They didn't seem to fit her, somehow. And they were incredibly dark, especially, it seemed, when he was being difficult. Quite frankly, her eyes scared him a bit. They looked haunted and sometimes made her seem almost…dangerous.

House shook himself out of his reverie and shook his head in disgust at his thoughts. Dangerous? Lil' Hateful was about 5 foot nothing and maybe weighed 115 pounds soaking wet. He had overheard her talking to another nurse about some martial arts training she'd had, but he doubted she was an expert or anything. The only dangerous thing about her was that she somehow turned him into a total pansy, unable to refuse her quiet, yet forceful demands that he see more patients.

House glanced at her again and realized that she was staring back at him. She smiled and crooked her finger at him, beckoning him over. His brain told him to turn his back on her and walk away, but apparently his body had successfully launched a coup d'étatagainst his brain because he found himself walking towards her. House sighed. He hoped Cuddy never found out about this.

In the dean's office, Lisa Cuddy was pinching the bridge of her nose as another nurse manager, this time Sonya in ICU, was complaining about House's treatment of one of the nurses.

"…and it took me an hour to get her to stop crying. Yes, Carla made a mistake, but it was her first day on the job. She was still getting her bearings. She was supposed to stick with her mentor today, but Lucy had to use the bathroom and she left Carla alone for a few minutes. I know it's not Lucy's fault, and she did tell Carla to wait outside the room. When the patient went into cardiac arrest, Carla ran in to see if she could help, which is a natural reaction. Dr. House had given the patient a shot of Atropine, I think 1 mg. Apparently, the patient wasn't responding, so he told Carla to give him another dose of Atropine while he was performing CPR. She tried to tell him she wasn't authorized to give meds yet, but he yelled at her to stop being an idiot. I think he asked her if she was an actual nurse or not. So, the poor girl did what anyone in that situation would do. She gave the patient a dose of one of the pre-drawn syringes, which, by the way, I've always thought were a bad idea."

Cuddy ignored Sonya's little disclaimer at the end. "So Carla injects 1 mg of Epinephrine instead of Atropine."

Sonya seemed a bit flustered. "Well, if Dr. House hadn't been shouting at her, she wouldn't have made such a…"

Cuddy interrupted Sonya. "The patient suffered from tachydysrhythmia and is now lucky to be alive. And you want me to write Dr. House up for being _rude_?"

Sonya sighed. "Look, Lisa, I know Carla screwed up. She should have stuck to her guns and told Dr. House she couldn't do it until she finished her orientation period. She should have run into the hall and gotten another nurse. At the very least, she should have verified the medication before giving it to the patient. I know she messed up. But the point is Dr. House is a nasty individual who doesn't care about anyone's feelings…"

Cuddy had had enough. She interrupted Sonya again. "Feelings? FEELINGS! As you've pointed out, Carla messed up. Period. If she can't handle pressure or people yelling at her and wounding her delicate sensibilities, then she's in the wrong profession. I know House is a jerk and I know he can be hard to take. But believe it or not, I've dealt with worse. You've dealt with worse. Carla needs to toughen up, or she'll never make it. The next time, she might kill someone. And if that happens, I don't think anyone is going to give a dmn about her feelings!"

Sonya sat back. She knew Dr. Cuddy was right. She was just sick and tired of House and his attitude. He treated all of her nurses like crap and she was royally sick of it. She told Cuddy so.

Lisa sighed again. "Sonya, I wish the SOB wasn't so good at what he does. Right now, we need him here. I'll talk to him and see if I can get him to agree to back off. This incident is actually the first major problem I've had with him since he came back from leave after the shooting a few months ago. I was kind of hoping the incident had mellowed him out a bit. He's been flying under my radar lately. In fact, I haven't had to nag him about clinic duty in a while."

As Lisa talked, a slow smile began to spread over Sonya's face. Lisa looked at her quizzically. "What?" the dean asked. Sonya, grinning, told her. "I was talking to Elaine, the clinic manager, the other day. She was telling me about Dr. House and his unusual clinic habits _and_ a particular trend she was noticing. It involves that new nurse…your friend, Sera."

Lisa's eyebrows shot up. "What about Sera?" Sonya shook her head. "We need to get Elaine in here so she can tell you herself."

Lisa looked at her for a few seconds before reaching for the phone to page Elaine. She definitely wanted to know what her friend had to do with House and his clinic duty.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 3**

James Wilson strolled into the Diagnostics department, looking for House. He checked his office and the conference area. Chase, Foreman, and Cameron were sitting in the room, working on files. Before he could ask, Foreman said, "House went down to the clinic."

Wilson's eyebrows went up. "No, I'm looking for _Gregory _House." Foreman chuckled. "Yeah, I know. He's in the clinic. Wilson glanced at the clock on the wall, and then looked at his watch just to be certain he wasn't crazy. "But…it's only 9:30!" Cameron smiled at Wilson's confusion. "Wilson, he was due in clinic at 9:00."

Wilson nodded. "Yes, I realize that. This is House we're talking about. Normally it takes at least an hour before Cuddy can round him up and browbeat him into the clinic. Now you're telling me he's already there? He went voluntarily?"

Chase answered. "Things have been a bit different around here while you've been off teaching that pain management class for Dr. Houston."

Wilson rolled his eyes at the understatement. "Obviously!" He was about to say more when they all heard the clicking of Cuddy's heels. She came into the room and said to Wilson, "Come with me. You have GOT to see this. You won't believe it!"

**&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&**

Wilson and Cuddy, along with Elaine, the clinic nurse manager, watched House take patient after patient in the clinic for nearly an hour. Wilson's mouth was hanging open while Cuddy looked stunned. At the end of the hour, they saw House try to creep away after dropping an unfinished file on the nurse's desk. Sera didn't even glance at the file or look in House's direction, but she called out in a sweet voice, "Dr. House?" House, who was trying to make his way to the lobby, stopped in his tracks, cringing. Sera's eyes never left the computer where she was working as she said, "I think you forgot to finish making your notes in that file. And I have two more patients for you before you're done for the day."

House looked rebellious for a moment. Sera looked up from the computer, then got up, picked up the file, and held it out, waiting for House to come and get it. House, eyes flashing, limped angrily over to Sera and stood towering over her, not taking the file. "I'm finished for the day. I am NOT touching that file and I will NOT see any more patients. You're NOT my boss and I'm tired of you trying to order me around. And don't even THINK about calling Cuddy down here. I've seen ten patients in the last hour and I'm DONE!" House's voice became louder towards the end of his speech.

Sera's mouth dropped open, and then her eyes took on a dangerous glint. House took an involuntary step backwards before he realized what he'd done. Behind the pillar, Cuddy murmured under her breath, "Oh, he shouldn't have done that!" Wilson, who had been rather impressed with House's tirade, looked at her questioningly. Cuddy just smiled wryly at him. "Wait for it.", she advised.

Sera's voice was nearly as quiet as a whisper. "Did you just raise your voice to me, Dr. House? I know you did not disrespect me that way. _Especially_ when all I did was my job. No, I'm not your boss, but OUR boss insists that all documentation be kept accurate and current. It's my job when I am charge nurse to see that that happens. Since YOU saw the patient, YOU are the only one who can make notations in the file. Since I'm not willing to risk my license filling out paperwork for you and forging your name, YOU have to do your job and update the file. Now, I don't give a flying flip what you do up in the diagnostics department, but here in MY department, you WILL do your job so that I can do mine. And don't you EVER raise your voice to me again, is that clear?"

Sera's voice stayed quiet, but with the emphasis she put on certain words and the way she was glaring at him, she might as well have been shouting. House even flinched at one point. Sera still held out the file to him. House glared at her and snatched the file from her hand. To his surprise (and the surprise of the three people watching them), Sera snatched the file back and said to him in a slightly raised voice, "Are you crazy? You just _snatched_ something from me? I think you need to try that again." House looked at her for a moment like he was contemplating what drug he could slip her to finish her off, then he, with exaggerated slowness and gentleness, took the file from her then stalked off to exam room 2 to finish his paperwork, slamming the door behind him.

The three observers looked back at Sera, who was staring after House with narrowed eyes. As they watched, she smiled and said in a soft voice, "Good boy." Cuddy tugged on Wilson's lab coat and gestured in the direction of her office. He followed her, along with Elaine.

Once they arrived in Cuddy's office, Elaine and Wilson started chuckling. Wilson said, "I've never seen anyone handle House like that!" Elaine looked at Cuddy, who was biting her lower lip with a worried expression on face. Elaine asked the administrator, "So, now do you believe me? I think that idea Sonya had will work. It will keep House from bothering the nurses and it might rein him in a bit, too,"

Wilson looked at Cuddy. "What idea?" Cuddy sighed. "Another nurse manager was complaining about House's treatment of the nurses. She suggested that I assign a nurse to House's team…one that would work with House's patients whenever he was on duty to keep him from harassing the other staff members. I know House's team does a lot of the things that nurses often do, but they don't do it all. House can be a bit…testy with some of the nurses."

Elaine snorted at Cuddy's comment. "He can be a right bstard, you mean!" Cuddy glared at her, then shrugged. "I don't know if I like this idea. And I definitely don't want Sera to have to deal with him all the time!"

Wilson frowned at Cuddy. "Lisa, even I could see that Sera seemed to enjoy sparring with House." Cuddy frowned even more and muttered, "I know, that's what worries me." Cuddy had also seen what the other two might have missed. As Sera was fussing at him about snatching the file, Cuddy had caught the brief flash of intrigue in House's expression before he plastered his frown back on. The last thing Cuddy wanted to do was put Sera in close proximity with House if he was interested in figuring her out. House was the type of person that would not rest until he solved a puzzle. Cuddy shuddered slightly. In Sera's case, solving the puzzle could endanger her life.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 3**

Cuddy looked up as Sera walked into her office, shutting the door behind her, and pulled up a chair and sat down. "What's up, Lis? You paged me?" Cuddy closed the file she was looking over and smiled at her best friend. "Yes, I did. I need to talk to you about something, Peace." Sera shook her head. "Lisa, you have GOT to stop calling me that. You might slip up one of these days…"

Cuddy interrupted her. "Sorry – old habits and all that. Although if anyone heard me, they wouldn't really understand the nickname anyway." Sera quirked an eyebrow at her. "Do you really feel like trying to make up a lie about why you call me 'Peace'?" Cuddy chuckled. "No, not really. Listen, I didn't page you to talk about your name. I wanted to give you a heads up about something before you heard it through the grapevine." Sera crossed her arms and glared at Cuddy. "Oh, you mean the position in the diagnostics department that you won't let me take?"

Cuddy took a moment to mentally curse the big mouths of her nurse managers before trying to placate Sera. "Look, sweetie, there really isn't a position, per se…it's just that Elaine and Sonya had this idea that you could be the nurse assigned to care for Dr. House's patients so that he won't…well, so that they wouldn't….uh…" Sera finished her thought for her. "So that big, bad House won't make the nurses cry?" she said bitterly. Cuddy looked at her friend in surprise. "When did you get so…unsympathetic?" Sera smiled ruefully, although her eyes were dead serious. "About the same time that some psycho decided to screw around with my life and send me into hiding."

Cuddy leaned back in her chair and nodded her head once. "Touché. But…not everyone has had to be as tough and resilient as you have. And I haven't seen anyone handle House the way that you do. Hell, _I _can't handle him as well as you do."

Sera sat forward. "So why on earth aren't you letting me work with the diagnostic team, Lisa? I'm bored to death in that clinic and you know it. I need something to challenge me. If you're trying to protect me from House, don't. He doesn't scare me at all."

Cuddy sighed. "Peace, I'm not worried about him hurting your feelings or irritating you. I know you can give as good as you get. But you don't know House like I do. He's…he's dangerous to you right now. He's weird, almost scary, the way he figures stuff out. During our casino night, he was able to tell what kind of hand I had via telephone. I was playing with Wilson and House was talking to him and the jerk figured out when I was bluffing and when I wasn't."

Sera shrugged. "That doesn't mean anything. You have so many tells, it's ridiculous. You play with your hair when you have a bad hand and you tug on your ear when you have a good hand. You also try too hard not to blink whenever you're bluffing. You also swirl your drink when…"

Cuddy stopped her. "Alright, I get the picture. I'm lousy at poker…I get it. You know, a good friend would have told me these things before I lost a wad of money that night." Sera chuckled. "Yep. A good friend would have also mentioned it to you before we played strip poker with some of those football players in college, too. Of course, a _really _good friend wouldn't have cheated and stacked the deck in her favor."

Cuddy's mouth dropped open. "You…no way! You did not! I wondered why you were the only person in that room that was almost totally dressed!" By this time both women were chuckling and Sera ducked the pencil that Lisa threw at her. Sera picked up the pencil and tossed it back on Lisa's desk. "Honestly, Lis, you should have figured it out when I got four aces twice and a royal flush in that last hand. Nobody has luck _that _good!"

Lisa rolled her eyes at Sera. "Ok, so figuring me out in poker apparently isn't that hard. But the man knows my menstrual cycle. I mean, he knows when I'm ovulating and everything! He noticed that I…"

"…ate something sweet and fattening instead of your normal rabbit food? Again, that's not really that hard to figure out." Sera smirked at the surprised look on her friend's face.

Lisa sat back in her chair and stared at Sera. 'Why hadn't I noticed before that my two best friends are just alike?' Lisa thought. Then, she did a mental double-take. 'Wait, did I just refer to House as one of my best friends? Oh my God….he _is_, isn't he? When the hell did _that _happen?'

Sera watched Lisa's face run a gamut of emotions, from amused surprise to shock. She grinned at her. "So what just hit you? That House and I are just alike or that you're madly in love with him?" Lisa glared at her and gritted out, "Peas in a pod, actually. And I'm NOT in love with him!" Sera held up her hands in mock surrender. "Whatever you say, amiga, whatever you say."

Lisa continued to glare at her. "Look, maybe you're missing the point here. House is a lot like you with one big, honking exception. You know how to let things go. I don't see you obsess over things much. But House… he won't quit until he has solved the mystery. And right now, YOU are the mystery."

Sera smirked. "Actually, I like to think of myself as more of an enigma…" Sera jumped slightly in her seat when Cuddy slammed her hand against the desk. "Dmnit, Serenity! You need to take this seriously! Do you honestly think you'll be able to keep him from finding out who you are? Are you going to be able to refrain from giving your opinion on a diagnosis, or letting something slip that shows your knowledge? He won't rest until he has searched and brooded and dug around and figured you out. And once he has, do you really think House will keep it quiet?"

Sera looked at her somberly. "If he knew my life depended on his discretion, would he still tell?" Lisa stared at her for a minute then relented, shaking her head. "No, he probably wouldn't. He's not the complete bstard everyone makes him out to be." Sera smiled at her. "Of course he's not. You wouldn't love him if he was."

Lisa opened her mouth to deny what Sera was saying, but closed it again, knowing it was pointless. She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. "Look, even if House keeps your secret, others are bound to figure it out. You didn't exactly have a low profile before, you know. I don't know why I agreed to let you come here. Hanging out around doctors that might recognize you is a horribly bad idea. Even your name isn't that different. What if…_he_ has been waiting for you to do something like this? Come back to your roots, so to speak. I should never have let you come. If something happens to you…"

Sera leaned over and took Lisa's hand. "Then it will be that ---hole's fault, not yours. And you know what, Lisa? I'm tired of running. I just want my life back. I've worked as a teacher, a waitress, a sales clerk – you name it and, over the past five years, I've done it. I've done everything except work in the medical field. And I miss it. I've felt like a fish out of water for too long. I'm ready to try to get back some part of me. Let me work with House and his team. I'll be careful. And if it looks like House is close to solving his mystery, I'll tell him the truth and try to impress upon him the importance of secrecy. And if he doesn't agree, I'll just kill him. All the nurses would thank me."

Lisa stared at her for a moment then burst out laughing. Sera joined her and soon both women were nearly hysterical. At this moment, House slammed into the room. "What's this crap I hear about me getting another useless person on my team!" House stopped yelling and looked in astonishment at the two women, who's laughter had died out when he stormed into the room, then resumed after he had asked, or rather yelled, his question. Sera was barely able to stand up, but she managed to make her way over to House and say, in between giggles, "I think I'm gonna enjoy working with you, Dr. House!" She gave his cheek a little pinch as she slid past him and out the door, laughing even harder at the look on his face."

House stared after her, then looked at Cuddy in horror. "No." he said in an ominous voice. Cuddy grinned at him and said, "House, Sera is going to be the nurse assigned to work with your team." House looked at the door that Sera went through and then looked back at Cuddy. He said in a quiet voice, "It's official. I. Am in. Hell."

**- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **

On Monday morning at 8:45 am, House was headed to the elevator to get to his department. He saw a few surprised faces turn his way, which made him frown. 'What the hell is everyone looking at? I've come to work on time before', he thought grumpily. When he walked past Cuddy, her mouth dropped open, then closed with a snap. She started to say something, but wisely decided to keep quiet when she saw his stormy expression. He stepped onto the elevator and viciously stabbed his floor number with his cane. Wilson slid on the elevator before the doors closed completely.

Wilson glanced at him then looked forward towards the doors. "So, new staff member to break in today, huh?" House merely growled in response. Wilson smiled slightly and continued. "She's very pretty. She's also a bit feisty, isn't she?" House muttered something that sounded like "itch". Wilson leaned forward. "What was that?" House turned to him and said loudly, "I said, she makes me twitch!" Wilson smirked and muttered under his breath, "Sure you did."

House glared at him, but Wilson faced forward and didn't say anything else until they both got off of the elevator on their floor. As they went in opposite directions, Wilson called out in a cheerful, singsong voice, "Have a good daaaayyy!" House gripped his cane tightly to keep from bludgeoning his friend to death and continued on to his office without saying anything. He heard Wilson chuckle as he made his way down the hall, and he had to take a deep breath to attain his neutral face. He smelled the coffee from the hall and made a beeline for the conference room instead of his office.

His team was sitting at the table waiting for him. Well, all of the team except the new one. House glanced at the clock. She had 7 minutes to get here. Chase looked up from the medical journal he was reading and asked, "What's this I hear about us getting a new member on our team?" House looked up from pouring his coffee. "Well…we're getting a new member on our team." Chase shook his head and sighed as House limped over to the whiteboard and leaned against the chair next to it. He took a sip of the coffee and looked up in surprise. "Cameron, you've outdone yourself. This coffee is the _bomb_!" Foreman rolled his eyes at House and went back to reading the patient file. Cameron frowned at House. "I didn't make the coffee. It was already brewing when I got here." House looked at Foreman and Chase, both of whom shook their heads. House looked at his cup then back to his team. "So did the little _elves _come and make it this morning?"

Just then the door opened and Sera walked in. She smiled at everyone then looked at House. "Sorry, hope I didn't hold you up. I was here earlier, but Dr. Cuddy called me down to her office to complete some paperwork." House smirked at her. "Oh, don't stand on ceremony on our account. We all know you and Cuddy are like _this_." House held up two crossed fingers. "Just go ahead and call her Lisa." Sera grinned at him as she took her seat. "Oh, I didn't know you were that casual around here. That's good to know…_Greg_." Sera put her elbows on the table, folded her hands, and rested her chin on them. She gave House a look that clearly said, "Ball's in your court."

House stared at her for a minute then decided not to volley. She was too unpredictable and he didn't want her to make one of her scathing remarks in front of his team. If she did, he would either have to destroy her or let her win. Considering she was Cuddy's best friend, the first option probably wasn't a good choice. The second option…well, THAT wasn't gonna happen in this lifetime. Cameron would probably let it go, but those other two idiots would never let him hear the end of it. Instead, he decided to play nice and introduce her.

"Cuddy has decided that we need our very own nurse to do our dirty work for us. So, from now on, Lil' Hateful will be sitting in the differential diagnosis meetings with us and taking care of our patients." House paused for a minute to sip his coffee, then he frowned at it and looked at Sera. "Did you make the coffee when you were here earlier?" Sera nodded. House took another sip and smirked at Cameron. "Well, that's one job you don't have to do anymore. Her coffee blows yours out of the water." House looked back at Sera. "Consider making the coffee one of your job duties."

Sera, who didn't miss the _look _Cameron shot her at House's comment, chuckled a bit and told House, "IF I am the first one here, I'll put the coffee on. It is not, nor will it ever be, one of my assigned duties. I'm not a caffeine junkie, so if someone gets here before I do and waits around for me to make the coffee, he will have a very long wait."

The room got quiet as everyone waited to see what House would say. A full minute passed with Sera and House staring each other down. Sera suddenly heard Lisa's voice in her head, telling her to try not to pss House off too much, especially on the first day. Sera sighed softly and looked away from House, conceding that particular victory to him. She did say, without looking at him, "I will, however, bring in some more of my special blend since you seem to like it so much. Whoever gets here first can use it. Five heaping scoops make a whole pot. It's practically idiot-proof." House snorted and said quietly, "You don't know my idiots like I know my idiots."

Sera turned to the rest of the team to introduce herself. "By the way, my name is Sera. That's what most normal people call me, anyway." She held out her hand to Chase, who was sitting to her right. Chase smiled at her and took her hand. "Robert Chase. You can call me Robert." Sera noticed that he was using the smile that the clinic nurses referred to as 'Chase special #2'. He used that one when meeting an attractive woman for the first time. Sera struggled to keep a straight face as she extradited her hand from his. She turned and looked at Foreman.

Foreman smiled an easy smile and shook her hand firmly. "Eric Foreman. No one around here uses first names, and I think it would be a bit weird, but if you want to call me Eric, I guess it's okay." Sera laughed out loud. "I've heard people call you Foreman, so since that's what you're used to, I'll use it. Wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable or anything." She gave him a saucy grin and winked. Eric grinned back at her, charmed by her laughter and her teasing manner.

House watched Cameron carefully during Sera's introduction to the boys. He knew she had been the queen bee of this particular hive for a while and he was interested in seeing how she'd react. So far, both Chase and Foreman were acting like completely besotted idiots, and House could tell Cameron didn't like it one bit. Her eyes were slightly narrowed…had been since he said Sera's coffee was better. House's eyes were shining with unholy glee. 'This might be more fun than I imagined', he thought.

Sera was completely aware of the baleful attention she was getting from Dr. Cameron. Although she had no intention of deliberately antagonizing the woman, she wasn't going to walk on eggshells around her, either. Sera was fully aware that Cameron considered Robert, Foreman, and even House "hers", but she figured the younger woman had better just get over it. She turned to Cameron and held out her hand, giving the other woman a small smile. "It's very nice to meet you." Cameron gave her a tight, little smile in return and told her, "Nice meeting you. I'm Dr. Cameron. It's always good to have a nurse around to help out around here."

Sera sat back in her chair and looked at Cameron speculatively. 'Nice', she thought with approval. 'In one sentence, she's made me sound like little more than a maid and she did it so politely, I could never call her on it. Looks like the kitten has sharper claws than I gave her credit for. And of course, House is just loving this. Well, I won't play into his little mental mud wrestling fantasy, that's for sure.'

Sera gave Cameron her most pleasant look. "Well, Dr. Cameron, I'm so happy to be here. You just let me know what I can do to help. I'm sure I'll learn a lot just by watching you good doctors work your magic in this room."

Everyone turned when they heard the snort of laughter from the doorway. Cuddy was standing there, looking at Sera with barely concealed amusement. Sera returned her gaze, trying to look as innocent as possible. Lisa walked over to stand next to her. "I was just coming to see if everything was going okay…making sure Sera got settled in." Sera gave her a look that spoke volumes and said, "Oh, everything is just peachy, Dr. Cuddy. Greg, Robert, Foreman, and Dr. Cameron have been just swell!"

Cuddy nodded in understanding. From what Sera had said, House was being House, Chase was flirting, Foreman was being cautious, and Cameron was being a pain in the butt. Just as she expected. She looked around at the team, saying, "Well, glad to see things are going well. Carry on." They all watched Cuddy leave with her heels clicking in her wake. House shook his head, muttering, "That was weird" under his breath. He looked around the table and said, "Okay, people, I'm sure the patient would like us to figure out what's wrong with her _before_ she dies…"

"HE", Cameron corrected. House shrugged. "Whatever. Okay, Cameron, what do we have?" House pulled the cap off of the marker and began writing as Cameron listed symptoms. Sera leaned back in her chair and realized that for the first time in a long time, she was happy. She glanced to her right and saw a pair of greenish-grayish eyes looking at her intently. She was surprised to feel a little tingle run up and down her spine. 'Yes', she thought, 'I am definitely feeling good right now!'


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 4**

Sera put the finishing touches on her grilled salmon while keeping one eye on the clock. 'He's gonna be here soon and I'm still puttering around in the kitchen!', she thought a little frantically. 'At least, I'm dressed and have my face on!' Sera put the platter on the warmer and took of her apron. She went into the bathroom to check her makeup and spritz on some body spray. She looked at herself in the mirror, took a deep breath, and gave herself a little pep talk.

"This is _not _a date! We're just eating some dinner, hanging out, relaxing after a difficult week, etc, etc…" Sera stopped. The talking to herself thing had to stop. She checked her hair again. The short style looked good on her, if she did say so herself. Everyone at the hospital had complimented her on it. Sera grimaced. Well, almost everyone. Cameron had looked at her and said, "Oh, I see you cut your hair" then walked away.

Sera had thought that over time, Cameron would have become a bit less hostile towards her. After all, she'd been working with the diagnostic team for two months now. But, if anything, the situation had gotten worse. Of course, it didn't help matters any that House had given her a couple of Cameron's jobs to do. Several times, Sera had, without being told, gone back and gotten some more information from the patient or their family that wound up being crucial to the case. After embarrassing Cameron for missing vital data while getting the patient history, House had assigned Sera to get histories. He also had Sera answer his emails after Cameron had accepted an invitation on his behalf to attend a conference. These things, on top of the coffee debacle, had led Cameron to give Sera the silent treatment for a few weeks (which Sera didn't actually mind).

The last straw for Cameron, however, had been when House asked Sera to go to the monster truck rally with him.

flashback

Wilson was supposed to go, of course, but he received a call from his mentor, Dr. Houston, who was a department chair at Harvard Medical. Houston had had triple bypass surgery and James had taken his class for the rest of the semester (about a month). Houston needed to go back into the hospital for some tests, so he asked James to conduct a seminar that he had scheduled, since the younger man had filled in for him so ably during his recovery. Unfortunately, the seminar was on the same evening as the monster truck rally, so Wilson had popped into the diagnostic dept. office and gave House back the ticket. When the rest of his team arrived to discuss a new patient, House had told all of them that he had an extra ticket for the monster truck rally since Wilson had "bailed" on him again. House had looked at Foreman, who quickly shook his head no. Chase looked at House hopefully, but House had snickered at him. He then glanced at Cameron, who smiled at him, certain that he would take her. House smirked at her and said, "Been there, done that" before turning to Sera. Sera glared back at House. Even though there was no love lost between her and Cameron, she thought House was horrible for saying what he did. House saw her glare, accurately interpreted it, and tendered Cameron a half hearted "Sorry" after rolling his eyes at Sera.

House turned back to Sera. "So, are you ready to put your money where your mouth is?", he asked her, holding up his extra ticket. Just that morning, Sera had scoffed at House when he was animatedly talking to Foreman and Chase about Gravedigger. Of course, neither of the men cared one way or the other about Gravedigger, but they had learned that it was best to humor House when he was excited about something. Sera came into the room, listened for a few seconds, then interrupted House with, "Too bad Gravedigger was crushed by Madusa. And THAT truck is driven by a woman, no less." Well, that led to an extremely heated debate that would have lasted for hours if Cuddy hadn't stopped by to drag House down to clinic.

Sera looked at the ticket in front of her face. If she went, Cameron would never forgive her. Sera thought back to the petty comments and nasty looks that had been thrown her way by the younger woman, and realized that she didn't give a flip if Cameron forgave her or not. She reached over and took the ticket from House's hand. Just to rub salt in the wound, she said, "Greg, I would be delighted!" Sera ignored the sub-zero cold front that was blowing in from across the table and stuck the ticket in her pocket.

end flashback

Sera smiled when she thought about that night. Madusa had beaten Gravedigger by one point and House had had to cough up $100 _and _give her a ride to work on his motorcycle for one week (he passed her street on his way to work). House gave her the dorkiest helmet he could find, but Sera didn't care, especially when she saw the look on Cameron's face when she swung off of House's ride and he held her hand to help her off. Sera suspected he did it because he knew Cameron was watching, but she didn't care. Somewhere along the way, she started taking pleasure in getting under Cameron's skin. Sera never deliberately set out to irk the woman, but she didn't bother trying _not _to bother her.

Sera shook her head and frowned at herself in the mirror. 'What the heck am I doing thinking about Allison-freaking-Cameron when I have a handsome man showing up at my door any moment?', she wondered. She gave her makeup one last check, smoothed her hand over her _very _snug jeans, and readjusted her bra so that the girls were nicely, but conservatively, displayed. Although Sera wasn't necessarily interested in any long-term relationship, it had been so long since she felt comfortable and safe enough to even have a dinner guest. So even if they never went out again, she fully intended to enjoy her evening.

Sera heard the doorbell and took a deep, steadying breath. She walked slowly to the door, not wanting to appear too eager. She carefully checked her security camera to make sure it was her guest at the door before opening it. She grinned at the handsome man standing there with drinks in one hand and some videos in the other. She looked into his beautiful eyes and said, "Hey, you! Come on in!"

Sera smiled and stepped to the side as Robert came in. He leaned in and gave her a friendly peck on the cheek. He held up the bag of DVD's in his hand. "Here you are. A whole night's worth of Russell Crowe movies, as promised!" "As threatened, you mean", Sera muttered under her breath as she headed down the hall to the eat-in kitchen. Robert heard her and reminded her, "Come on, now. A deal is a deal. You and Foreman got to pick the fun activity the last two times we all hung out. It was my turn. "

Sera stuck out her tongue at him. "Do you see 'Ric here? I don't think it's fair that you enforce that on _our_ date when he's not around to suffer along with me." Sera turned around to put the drinks on the counter and missed seeing Robert's face light up over the word "date". Chase put his hands on her shoulders and turned her back around. "Well, when you put it _that_ way, I guess we can wait until Foreman's around. I would hate to miss an opportunity to torture him. Problem is, we don't have anything to do now." At the same time, both of them became aware of how close they were standing, the huskiness of Robert's voice, and the fact that his hands were on her shoulders. Robert's last words almost seemed to echo through the kitchen and both of them stepped away from each other quickly. Sera turned away from him to get silverware out of the drawer. She thrust the cutlery at him, not meeting his eyes, and said, "Here, can you set the table?"

Robert could feel the heat on his face. 'Dmn, I'm probably bright red right now. Why did I have to say that?', Robert thought as he put the silverware on the table. He took the platter from Sera and put it on the table. He helped her bring glasses and the rest of the food to the table. When he pulled out her chair for her, he couldn't help but notice her light, floral scent that she was wearing. He was trying extremely hard NOT to notice the way the jeans enhanced the curve of her bottom or the way the shirt hugged her in places he hadn't known she had. 'I've just realized how much I hate nurse's uniforms', Robert mused.

"Are you hungry?", Sera asked. The question caught Robert off guard. Considering the thoughts he had just been trying to shove out of his head, he immediately started to blush again at the inadvertent suggestiveness of the question. He quickly picked up his drink, hoping to divert her attention from his flaming face. Sera cocked her head to the side and looked at him like he was nuts. "Robert, are you okay? You look a little flushed. Are you too hot?" Slightly alarmed when he started choking, Sera got out of her chair and rushed to Robert's side and began pounding him on his back. After a few solid, somewhat painful whacks, Robert stopped gasping and started breathing normally.

Sera squatted down next to him, refilled his glass, and handed him his drink. Robert took a few sips to clear his throat, then said to her in a slightly raspy voice, "You know, the whole thumping a person on the back when choking thing really doesn't work very well." Sera shrugged and went back to her seat. She took a few sips of her drink and replied, "I know that. I wasn't hitting you to stop you from choking. I was hitting you because you were having naughty thoughts." At Robert's dumbfounded look, she smiled sweetly at him. "Yeah, I figured it out after the 'hungry' comment. Men are so easy." She then proceeded to dig into her delicious meal, ignoring the pouting, disgruntled, but oh-so-sexy man sitting across from her.

"So, since you've ruined my movie watching night, what are we going to do?" Chase wiped his mouth and took another sip from his glass of wine. They were just finishing dinner. After getting off to a rather humiliating start, the rest of the meal had been perfect, with wonderful food (he was going to get fat if they continued to date), interesting conversation, and an excellent Riesling. They had talked about everything under the sun and he had even given her a suggestion for getting along better with Cameron, although Sera wasn't really sure she wanted to get along with Cameron. The only reason she would even consider it was for the good of the team.

Sera looked over the rim of her glass at Robert. He looked relaxed and happy. Shame she was about to mess that up, but she'd rather get this out of the way now so she never had to talk about it again. She waited until he took a drink from his glass and said "So, I hear you and Cameron bumped uglies a while back."

For the second time that night, Robert started choking. This time, she just sat calmly sipping her wine and waited for him to get himself together. He got his breath back and drank some of his water to clear his throat. Then he glared at her.

"What the hell was that? Why are you asking me about that? And where did you hear it, anyway? And "bumping uglies"? Where did you get THAT expression from?" Chase's face was back to that cute shade of red that amused Sera immensely. She answered his questions in order.

"THAT was a question. I'm asking you because I don't want it hanging in between us nor do I want your lovely co-worker to try to use it against us. I heard it from House, of course. I think that expression came from a movie I saw. Tango and Cash, I believe. You haven't lived until you've heard Sylvester Stallone say 'bump uglies'."

Chase processed all of this information. "House, huh? I'm gonna kill him." Sera laughed. "No, you won't. That would be patricide. Besides, I also heard it from Cuddy, the nurses in the clinic, AND the nurses in the ICU. Nothing stays secret in this hospital, sweetie. I'll probably get someone coming up to me Monday asking me for the salmon recipe that I fixed for you."

Chase was still stuck on the "patricide" comment and didn't respond. Sera leaned over and stroked his hand, bringing his attention back to her. "Look, Rob, people make mistakes all of the time. Although I can't believe you would have sex with someone while they were all coked up…"

"It was meth", Chase interrupted.

"Whatever! The circumstances around it happening bother me more than the actual fact that you had sex with her. I just want to know that you didn't take advantage of someone during a moment of weakness and I also want to know if you still have any residual feelings for her…or her for you. Because I don't particularly want to get a scalpel in my back."

Chase sighed. "I did try to stop her. I did. But she was rather aggressive and pushed me against the wall…are you sure you want to hear this?" He had noticed that Sera was wearing a somewhat sickly look, like she was about to vomit.

Sera shook the mental image out of her head. "OK, you can skip the details. But you did make an attempt to stop it?"

Chase looked a bit shamefaced. "Well, there were several half-hearted attempts. I kinda figured she wasn't quite herself. But she is an attractive female, and I hadn't been intimate with anyone in a long time. I stopped protesting when she ripped my shirt open…" He stopped when Sera held up her hand, looking pained.

Sera closed her eyes tight and hit herself on the head a few times. "Get out! Out! Out!" She opened her eyes and found Chase staring at her in bemusement. Sera frowned at him, "I told you no details! Now I'm going to be scarred for life! Do you still have feelings for her?"

Chase didn't answer right away. He knew this was an important question and he wanted to give it the thought it deserved, although he pretty much already knew the answer. Finally, he answered. "I care about her, but only as a friend. We went out once after that incident, but it was awkward and uncomfortable. I realized that we have very little in common, we don't enjoy the same things, and she's still carrying a torch for House, although she's less obvious about it. After what happened, I wasn't interested in her romantically any more."

Chase leaned over and picked up Sera's hand in his. He kissed the back of it softly. "I really like spending time with you. I hope the stupid things I've done in the past won't stop you from going out with me on another date."

Sera smiled at him and tried to ignore the tingles that were making their way up her arm. "So…this IS an official date? We're not just hanging out?"

Chase gave her a sexy little smile that made the tingles jump to her tummy. "Well, since I plan on kissing you senseless before I leave tonight, I think that officially makes it a date."

The tingles migrated a little lower. Sera took a sip of her wine. 'Sheesh! I'm getting this turned on just from him _saying_ he's going to kiss me?' she thought. She gave him a look that she hoped was daring. "Kiss me senseless? I've never had anyone do that before. I'm not even sure it's possible."

Chase, who still had her hand in his, gently nibbled the inside of her palm. The tingles increased at an alarming rate. Sera pulled her hand from his and blurted out, "Miniature golf!"

Chase raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Sera took a deep breath to make sure her voice was steady. She got up out of her chair, walked around, grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his chair. "Miniature golf. I know the perfect place and it's not too far from here. They stay open late on Friday nights. I saw this place online and I've been dying to go. I was gonna suggest it when it was my turn to pick the hang-out spot next time you, 'Ric, and I went out." Sera really wanted to get out of the house. She wasn't sure what would happen if she and Robert stayed at her place and she wasn't ready for what he made her feel.

Robert looked at her carefully. He hoped he hadn't misread the signals, but it seemed like she was trying to get them out of the house. He looked into her dark eyes and saw something he'd never really seen in her…fear. She was scared…of him? Robert wasn't sure, but if hitting a little ball through some windmills made her feel more comfortable with him, then so be it. He grinned at her. "Ok, we can go, but the winner gets to choose the activities for the next 5 dates."

Sera looked at him with wide eyes. "Five! Don't you think that's a bit much?" Robert leaned down and quirked an eyebrow at her. "What…are you scared?" Sera tossed her head. "Of a little wombat? I don't think so!" Chase groaned. "That does it! You are not allowed to eat with House and Wilson any more at lunchtime. They give you too much information. Come one, let's go!" "But…the dishes…wait until I put the dishes…" Robert grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. "Come on! I want to go now. I'll do the dishes when we come back, I promise." Sera wasn't one to turn down help in the kitchen. She grabbed her denim jacket and her keys, set the alarm code, and they left.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 5**

Sera stood on the 18th hole at the Pine Creek miniature golf course. It was absolutely breathtaking. There wasn't a windmill in site. The place was so picturesque and had flowers, streams, waterfalls, and fountains. It almost looked like a botanical garden. It had only taken them 20 minutes to get to Pine Creek, and both had agreed that they would drag Foreman there next time they all went out.

So far, she and Robert were tied. They had opted to play the most difficult course, which was a par 65, but both of them were doing well. The score was tied at 72 and Robert had just shot par. That meant she had to get a birdie to win. She needed to get the ball in the hole with 3 strokes.

Sera lined up her first shot. They had set a time limit on how long each shot could take since both of them tended to take forever. She used her putter and hit her purple ball. She hit it perfectly and it went through the opening in the hill, around the curve, over the narrow strip of land that went across the stream and landed 2 feet away from the hole.

"Yes!" Sera was grinning in victory. She had yet to miss a shot that close to the hole. She was making a mental list of all of the ways she could torture him on their five dates. So far, a day shopping at the mall on a Saturday was leading the pack, but she was fairly certain she could come up with something worse. She sauntered down to where her ball was. Robert was already there, waiting for her with a grim look on his face.

She smiled sweetly at him. "What's wrong, honey? You look a little nervous."

Robert, still frowning, turned to look at her. His frown eased a bit and his expression turned thoughtful. He walked over to her and put his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.

She gasped, "What are you doing?" He gave her a look that she hadn't seen before ('Chase special #5', she thought) but it made the tingles return with a vengeance. He leaned in close to her and said, with his lips lightly brushing hers, "I'm taking you up on your challenge."

Before she could protest, he pulled her even closer and began to practically devour her lips. 'Oh. My. God', was the only coherent thought Sera could form, then even that fled from her as the sensations rolled over her, sweeping her up into a sensual haze. She was vaguely aware that she dropped the putter and she was totally oblivious to the cheers and whistles coming from other players. She wasn't even aware of molding her body up against his, or fisting her hands in his hair. All she was aware of was his lips on hers. And the tingling that had spread throughout her whole body, making her feel like she was floating.

After what seemed like an eternity, Robert lifted his lips from hers. He looked down at her, noticing that her eyes were still closed and her hands still tangled in his hair. He winced a bit as he extricated his hair from her grip.

Sera slowly became aware of the fact that the kiss had ended only when she felt Robert removing her fingers from his hair. She loosened her grip on him and tried to step away, but her legs wouldn't support her. He held onto her until she was steadier.

Sera kept her head down. She was sure her face was burning up right now. She was so embarrassed. Another minute and she would have thrown him down on the green and had her way with him. Her legs _still_ felt like spaghetti and she hadn't quite gotten her breath yet. Robert leaned down and picked up her putter.

"Here ya go!", he said cheerfully as he handed it to her. He turned her in the direction of her ball and even had the audacity to pat her bottom to get her moving in the right direction. Sera walked over to her ball and looked down at it, still dazed. 'What was she trying to do again?', she thought, still looking at the purple orb in confusion.

Robert called out helpfully, "It might help if you are turned the other way, since the hole is that way." Sera noticed he was smirking and shook her head to clear it. "Dangit, girl, get yourself together! It was just a kiss!" She turned to face the proper direction, focused on the ball, squinted at the hole, and made her shot.

Sera turned the key in the lock and silently disengaged the alarm. She had not said more then three words to Robert the whole way back to her townhouse. He kept shooting her glances…nervous glances. He didn't know if she was mad at him or what. Her face didn't look mad, just thoughtful. Robert felt off balance and he didn't quite know her well enough to know if he should talk to her or leave her alone. Her voice startled him.

"Do you want a slice of cheesecake and some coffee?" She headed for the kitchen, not waiting for his answer, so he followed her.

"Cheesecake would be lovely. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Sera busied herself with measuring out the coffee. "Well, it's not that late. If you want to pop in one of the videos you brought, we can watch that while we eat dessert. Or are you tired? We did have a busy week."

Chase tentatively took a step towards her. "No, I'm not tired. I'd love to watch a movie." He hesitated a moment, then reached out and touched her arm. The knife she had just taken out to cut the cheesecake clattered on the counter. Robert jerked his hand back. "What! What's wrong with you? Are you…angry with me about the kiss? Tell me what's wrong so we can fix this, but I can't handle you being this quiet and jumpy around me! It makes me feel like some sort of monster or something…"

Robert stopped at her sharply indrawn breath. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around. She looked at him with wide eyes that were brimming with tears. Robert instantly felt bad. He pulled her close to him and hugged her. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice and I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable earlier when I kissed you. I know it wasn't a fair way for me to win. Tell you what. Let's forget all about the bet. We can go back to alternating who gets to pick the date…"

Robert trailed off when he felt her shoulders shaking. Horrified, he pulled back and looked at her, thinking she was sobbing. Until he saw her face. She was laughing! She saw the look on his face and laughed some more. Robert started to get a bit irritated. He went over to the counter, picked up the knife, and started slicing the cheesecake. He felt slightly foolish and he didn't like the feeling. He heard the laughter behind him die down.

A pair of arms came from behind him around his waist. He felt her leaning into his back and her hands came up to his chest, holding him tightly. He enjoyed the sensation for a moment, forgetting that he was annoyed with her.

"Robert, I'm sorry. I'm not angry with you. It's just that…when you kissed me on the golf course…I've never felt anything like that before. Ever. It overwhelmed me, which was you intention, I guess, since that's the only way you were going to beat me."

Sera ignored his indignant snort and continued. She hoped he stayed in this position. It was a lot easier to say what she needed to say if he wasn't looking at her. "You see, I've never been in a truly intimate relationship before. When I was in college, I was so much younger than everyone else that dating wasn't really possible. And when I became older, I was so involved in school, school, and more school that I never had time. Then I got into a job that was so consuming – it sucked up everything I had, time, energy, my soul…everything. There was nothing left for anyone else. For the past 5 years I've been moving from place to place trying to find somewhere to call home. I never wanted to be involved with anyone when I wasn't sure I'd be staying."

Robert processed all that she had said and came to one startling conclusion, which he blurted out. "You mean, you're a VIRGIN!"

Sera let go of him and made as if to walk out of the kitchen. Robert stopped her and turned her around to face him. He noticed that she had tears in her eyes again. She looked at him angrily.

"Do you think that was easy for me to say? I may be the world's only 34-year old virgin and…" Robert interrupted her.

"You're 34!" Sera glared at him, tears quickly vanishing. "Yes, moron, I'm 34! You didn't realize that I was older than you? What, am I too old now?"

Robert stepped up to her and gently lifted her chin so she was looking into his eyes. "No, you're not too old for me. In fact, I think it's hot. And you should have told me that you weren't very experienced. I wouldn't have rushed you by kissing you like that. I'm so sorry."

Sera looked into those beautiful green/gray eyes of his and sighed, knowing that she was going to forgive him. 'When on earth did I get so soft?', she wondered. She hadn't cried in years and here she was, crying over a kiss. She looked at Robert and noticed that he looked extremely guilty. She debated over whether or not she wanted to let him continue to beat himself up for a while or whether she'd let him off the hook. She looked into his eyes again and her eyes traveled down to his mouth. That sexy, magical mouth. She knew that if she didn't take action now, he would take forever to kiss her again. She wasn't some fragile, delicate piece of china and she wasn't going to let him treat her like one.

Sera brushed a lock of hair back out of his eyes and threaded her fingers through his hair. She stepped close to him and put her other hand around his neck and started to pull him down. He resisted, saying, "Sera, we don't have to do this. I don't want to rush you."

Sera rolled her eyes at him. "Will you shut up and kiss me, already? Robert looked at her, startled for a moment, then he smiled that sexy smile of his. "Yes, ma'am!", he said, then sent her floating away in bliss again.


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

_Author's note: I did some research on martial arts, but I'm sure I got something wrong, so apologies for any inaccuracies!_

**CHAPTER 6**

Sera rolled over in her bed the next morning and blinked at the sun streaming through the window. She stretched a nice long stretch that would have put any cat to shame and threw her legs over the side of the bed, hopping out. She went to the bathroom to wash her face, brush her teeth, and soak her contact lenses, which were irritating her eyes, and then went to the kitchen to start the coffee. She smiled, seeing her perfectly clean kitchen. She was glad Robert followed through with his promise to clean. She felt guilty about falling asleep on him while watching "Gladiator", but she had already seen the movie about 3 times, so it was rather boring to her. She frowned. If Robert was going to be a regular visitor, she would have to give him the security code so he could set it when he left. She smiled again. It had been a long time since she had trusted anyone enough to even consider giving them her security code.

Sera measured out the coffee and turned the pot on to brew. She then opened the refrigerator to see what she could scrounge up for breakfast. She gasped in shock when she felt arms come around her waist. She instantly reacted, dropping into an _au batido_ move, which loosened the grip on her waist. She then turned into a kick on the person's outside thigh, causing him (the grunt sounded masculine) to drop to the ground. She then jumped directly on him , and applied an Eagle claw strike on the baroreceptor in the carotid artery. She looked into the green/gray eyes, which started to flutter. Sera gasped and immediately released the pressure point.

"Robert….Robert! Come on, wake up!" Robert felt hands gently patting his cheek as the darkness that had started to overtake him receded. He blinked slowly and looked into the gray eyes watching him anxiously. His leg felt like it was on fire and his head was beginning to hurt. He blinked again and sat up, feeling like his brain was slightly fuzzy. "Gray?", he said questioningly. He heard a gasp and Sera turned away from him and started to get up. He quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

Sera briefly considered finishing what she started and rendering him unconscious. Or just getting loose from his grip, which she could easily do, and running to the bathroom. 'Or you could stop letting a psychopath control your life', said the voice inside her head that she had managed to ignore for the past 5 years. Sera sat next to Robert and helped him sit up. He looked at her eyes, tilting his head in utter confusion.

"Your eyes are beautiful. Why would you wear those dark brown contacts to hide them?" Sera laughed at him. "Is that really the main question you want to ask me right now?"

Robert realized that he had been knocked on his butt and almost knocked unconscious by a woman who was 10 inches shorter and about 70 pounds lighter than he was. He glared at her. "Well, now that you mention it, what the hell was that? What did you do to my leg? And how did you almost make me lose consciousness?"

Sera began to massage the point on his outer thigh where she kicked him. "Well, I didn't know you were still here. All I knew was someone grabbed me from behind. I didn't know it was you, although subconsciously I must have known it was a possibility."

Robert sighed in relief as the pain diminished in his leg and the feeling started to return. "Why do you say that?"

Sera finished her massage and stood up fluidly, pulling his arm to bring him up with her. He had noticed her grace before, but when she did that cartwheel thingy to get out of his grip, she was like mercury in motion. Smooth and quick. She responded to his question.

"Well, normally, if I felt like I was being attacked, I would have grabbed the knife from the butcher block there", she gestured toward the set of knives on the counter next to the refrigerator. "Or, I could have knocked you out with a strike to the occipital lobe. Quicker than the carotid artery, but more dangerous to you since it shakes your brain up. Or, I could have used a more painful pressure point strike that you would still be feeling now. Or, I could have…"

"Yeah, I get it. There are about a thousand ways you could have kicked my ss. Great. My girlfriend is tougher than I am." Robert walked around in a circle, making sure his leg was in good working condition. He was only slightly embarrassed at what had happened. From what he had seen, there are very few people that would have done any better than he had. He still had a ton of questions, though.

"Sera…" Robert began but she held up her hand. "Look, I know you have a lot of questions. Some of them I can answer and some I can't. But I'm starving and I haven't had my coffee yet. Let me get some breakfast going while you go wash up. I'm assuming you're still here because of the bottle of wine we polished off during _The Quick and The Dead_?"

Robert nodded. "After I took you to bed, I felt so tired that I didn't think it was a good idea to drive home. Plus, I wasn't sure if the wine was affecting me too much to drive. So, I sacked out in the spare bedroom. I didn't think you'd mind. Although if I had known I would be attacked in the morning, I might have taken my chances driving home."

Sera grinned at him and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek. "Sorry about that, mate! Go get cleaned up and I'll whip us up a couple of omelets to make up for my bad behavior this morning. Deal?"

"Deal."

Sera took a sip of juice and began her story. "When I was younger, I was a bit overweight. I didn't like to exercise and I wasn't the healthiest eater in the world. So when I had to take a physical fitness class in my first year of college, I chose self-defense because at least it seemed like useful exercise. As it turned out, our instructor integrated a lot of karate into the self-defense techniques. He was a _hachidan_, or 8th degree black belt. After the class was over, I wanted to learn more. I talked to the instructor and he signed me up for his class off-campus. I worked with him all throughout my college career, which lasted a long time. I have numerous degrees in…many things." Sera still wasn't ready to share everything with Robert.

"As I mentioned last night, I was a lot younger than anyone else at the college. I was one of those child prodigies who breeze through school and go to college when they're 14. I actually already had some college credits under my belt when I officially started at Michigan. I was 2 credits short of being a sophomore, actually."

Sera smirked at Robert's look of shock. "Please don't tell anyone. Because of my so-called genius IQ and my college success, I was something of a freak. Lisa was my mentor in college. She was a junior and the only person who treated me like a person and not a machine or an adult. She didn't patronize me or treat me like a child, but around her I could be my age. She was like the big sister I never had. Our relationship is still somewhat sisterly, but as I got older, we became best friends. I don't know what I would have done without her. I think I'm as relatively normal as I am because of her."

Robert took her hand and squeezed it. "Well, after watching you totally mess up my sudoku puzzles and annihilate the crosswords, I would never guess you were a genius, so I don't think you have to worry about anyone figuring it out." Sera did the sums in her head and decided that his comment added up to an insult, so she punched him in the shoulder and laughed when he pouted. "Do you want to hear the rest of this or not? I'd rather get it all out of my system now so we don't have to discuss it anymore." Robert told her to go on.

"I spent a lot of time with Lisa, but obviously she had her own life and, because of my age, there were many things I couldn't do. So I used martial arts as a way to keep busy. School was ridiculously easy and no challenge to me at all, so I challenged myself physically. I pushed myself to master karate. My _sensei_ was very strict and pushed me hard as well. Because of my dedication, I progressed faster than usual. And apparently, I had some natural athletic ability that came in handy. When I graduated and left school, he gave me the name of a friend of his who lived near me that could keep teaching me."

Sera paused to take a bite of her omelet. Robert was watching her while he was eating, looking thoughtful. He finished chewing and asked her, "So what level did you get to?" Sera looked down. "It doesn't really matter." Robert kept looking at her until she sighed and answered, "I achieved the rank of _sichidan_, which is a 7th degree black belt. I've actually surpassed that, but I haven't been officially ranked since I began studying different martial arts disciplines."

Robert nodded at her to continue and she did after nibbling some bacon and drinking her juice. "Well, I became addicted to martial arts the way some people become addicted to running or working out. I lost so much weight and learned to eat healthier, except for succumbing to the occasional bacon craving." Sera held up her bacon and popped the last piece in her mouth.

Robert leered at her playfully. "Well, from where I'm standing, the bacon looks good on you!" His eyes took her in from head to toe. She was definitely curvy, but her tummy was flat (and taut!) and her arms were well-toned. He also couldn't help but notice that her legs looked very strong, but still with feminine softness to them. He tried to shake the memory of her straddling him before nearly putting his lights out. Her legs had been gripping him tightly then…

"Hello? Earth to Robert!" Robert blinked a couple of times and focused his attention on Sera, who was looking at him with amusement. Knowing her, she knew exactly what had been going through his mind and his traitorous face started to heat up again. Sera laughed at him. Robert stared at her, mesmerized by her eyes. 'Maybe this is why she wore contact lenses – to keep men from staring at her stupidly, like I'm probably doing', he thought, trying hard to focus on what she was saying.

"Do you want to move this discussion into the living room? The rest is not exactly pleasant for me and I'd rather be comfortable. You can bring your coffee, if you want." They both got up with their cups and went into the living room, where Sera curled up in the sofa like a cat. Robert nudged her up a bit and slid in behind her, so she was partially lounging on him.

"Well, I got a job in my chosen field and worked pretty hard. I rose through the ranks and became head of my department. I was fairly well known for the work that I did." Sera reached back and put her hand on Robert's mouth, shushing the question that he was about to ask. "I'm not ready to share that yet, if you don't mind." Robert nodded and she continued.

"During this time, I continued with martial arts training. I became interested in studying different areas of martial arts. I studied Hap Ki Do, Qin Na, and Capoeira. I used the last two on you this morning. Qin Na involves pressure points, which is how I was able to make you black out and kick you in the exact right way to make you lose power in your leg."

"_Almost _black out." Robert felt that it was very important to make this distinction. Sera smiled at him and conceded his point. Robert asked her, "What was that cartwheel thing you did before you kicked me?"

"Oh, that? It was a cartwheel." When Sera tilted her head back to look at him, she saw Robert looking at her balefully. She laughed again. "Ok, ok, it was an evasive cartwheel, a Capoeira technique called _Au Batido_. Basically, you use the cartwheel to evade, as I did to get away from your hands, then you either block, if being attacked, or you attack with a kick if the opportunity presents itself. Do you really want a whole martial arts lesson, because I could go on forever about it?"

Robert shook his head. "No, just get to the part where you feel the need to have a state of the art security system, hide your identity, and keep secrets."

Sera bit her lip. He was way more intuitive than anyone gave him credit for. She sat for a minute, chewing on her lip, trying to decide how much to tell him. Robert pushed her up gently, got off of the sofa, and got on one knee in front of her. Sera looked at him with a wary smile. "You aren't about to propose, are you?" He looked at her with such intensity it momentarily took her breath away. His next words hit her like a bucket of ice water. "How could I propose to someone who doesn't trust me enough to tell me the truth? Someone who won't even tell me who she really is."

Robert stood up and turned to leave. Sera scrambled off of the sofa. "Robert, you DO know me. You know who I really am." Robert looked back at her and said coldly, "Do I?" He picked up his keys from the table, punched the numbers he watched her enter the night before into her alarm system to disable it, and left. Sera stared after him, bemused that he had remembered the code and sad that he left the way he did. She sighed, went to the alarm box to reset it, then went to shower and get dressed.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 7**

The next week passed very slowly for Sera. Robert was still pleasant and nice to her, but in a somewhat distant and aloof way. She didn't think Cameron picked up on it, but she was fairly sure Eric did and knew for certain that House did. For some miraculous reason, neither of them commented. Foreman didn't want to get in between his two co-workers. He was getting to be really good friends with Sera and he and Robert's relationship had grown a bit closer. House had been so busy trying to avoid Cuddy that they rarely saw him. Apparently he had gone back to shirking clinic duty since Sera wasn't there as often to keep him on task. He was behind on his quarterly billing and the annual performance reviews were due. So he was staying out of the team's hair for the moment.

Sera had started to call Robert about a dozen times during the week, but something held her back. She was afraid of getting too close to anyone. People that got close to her wound up getting hurt, and she would just die if something happened to Robert, too.

The team got a patient on Wednesday and spent a few frantic days struggling to diagnose her. She coded twice and Sera couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in Robert in the calm and assured way he ran the code team and brought her back. Even as she was following his instructions, Sera couldn't help but notice how sexy and capable his hands looked as he resuscitated Mrs. Adams. She found herself in Lisa's office by Thursday evening, crying on her friend's shoulder. Lisa handed her a tissue and let her get it out of her system.

"Peace, you know I can't tell you what to do. But it simply boils down to one thing. Do you trust Robert or not? Now, he's done some stupid things in the past, but I've seen how he looks at you. If he's not already in love, he's getting there. And it's time you stopped running scared. You need to live, sweetie. It's time."

Sera looked at her with red eyes. "But…_he_ is still out there. What if something happens? I can't go through it again, Lisa! What happened to Jamal…I can't go through it again!" Sera broke down again and Lisa simply held her and rubbed circles on her back. After Sera had calmed down a bit, Lisa forced her to sit up and took her face between her hands and forced Sera to look at her.

"You need to let go of the 'what ifs'. You can't let fear run your life. That sshole stole your life from you and you need to take it back! You are the toughest, strongest woman I know. Not only can you kick anyone's butt in this whole hospital, but you've dealt with more pain and more…crap…than anyone I've ever met. I've seen you hurt, I've seen you sad, I've seen you joyful, I've seen you angry, but I have NEVER seen you defeated!" Tears were streaming down both women's faces as Lisa continued.

"Don't you DARE let that man steal your joy! There is a hot doctor out there who is falling head over heels for you. He just wants you to trust him and let him in. You gotta live, Peace! Take. Your. Life. Back. Don't let him win!"

Sera nodded slowly, tears still flowing. She looked at her friend sadly. "Lisa, he _could _still kill me, you know. He could kill the people I love…he could kill you."

Lisa waved off the comment. "He doesn't scare me. Bullies never do. And he already _has _killed you. I just think you're past due for a resurrection." Lisa got up and pulled Sera to her feet. "Come on. Let's go to the cafeteria. They have some cheesecake that's actually pretty good and I'm dying for something sweet." She got a couple more tissues out and handed one to Sera while wiping her own face.

Sera smiled at her and cleaned her face. She then got to her feet and followed Lisa out of the office. As they were walking through the lobby by the clinic, she caught a glimpse of Robert as he came out of an exam room. She was about to go ask him if he wanted her to bring him a piece of pie when she heard someone call her name.

"Sera! You have some flowers up here." Sera walked over to the nurse's station and saw the beautiful bouquet of pink roses. A sudden chill went up her back. She turned to Brianna, the nurse, and asked her, "Who brought these?" Sera heard Lisa come up behind her and gasp as she caught sight of the flowers.

Brianna was looking at the delivery log. "I don't know. They were just sitting here when I came on duty about 30 minutes ago. I didn't even know they were for you until I happened to see the card with your name on it. There's no record of anyone taking a delivery, though. They sure are beautiful, aren't they?"

Sera's hands trembled as she pulled out the card. Lisa stopped her. "Shouldn't we call the police? Or the Feds? You shouldn't even touch this…"

Sera shook her head. "He's long gone by now. And he always uses gloves…always. It's one of his OCD habits. Besides, I need to be sure it's from him before I call in the troops." Her hands were still shaking as she opened the card and read:

_I didn't know you were any good at golf. But I guess that's a requirement of all doctors, huh? Tell your little Aussie I think he cheated on that last hole. And it's not nice to cheat._

Sera dropped the card. Her eyes instinctively found Robert's on the other side of the nurse's station. But she didn't see him. Instead, she saw a man sprawled across the bed in her old house in Florida. She saw the blood pooling around him from multiple stab and slash wounds. And she could smell the scent of the dozens of pink roses that filled the room mixed with the scent of blood.

Sera's only thought before everything went dark was, "No…God, no!"


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 8**

Dr. Chase had been about to go into exam room 3 when he heard the nurse calling Sera's name. He paused so that he could get a look at her before seeing his patient. He had been wanting to talk to her all day, but the team's patient had been highly unstable and there had been no time to catch her.

Robert realized that he may have been a bit too harsh with her on Saturday. She was trying to open up to him and he pushed her too far, too fast. 'Great way to get her to trust you', he thought ruefully. His eyes lit up when he saw Sera walk over to the desk, then narrowed when he saw her reach for some flowers.

"What the bloody hell!", he muttered. He felt his anger begin to grow. 'She sure didn't waste any time moving on, did she?', he thought as he watched her and Cuddy exchange some words before she opened the card. As she read it, he could see her face grow paler. She looked up at him and met his eyes and for a moment he saw terror in them that he'd never seen before. He moved towards her, speeding up when he saw her eyes roll back in her head. He caught her before she hit the floor.

"Sera!" Lisa was immediately on her knees next to her friend. She took the card out of Sera's grasp and read over it quickly. The blood drained from her face and she gave Robert a scared look. He grabbed the card from her hand and read it, ignoring Cuddy's protests. He looked at her in confusion then back down at the woman in his arms. He could tell her breathing was normal and from what he could tell, her pulse rate was slightly elevated, but not ridiculously so. As he carefully lifted Sera in his arms and went to stand up, he started to ask Cuddy what the hell the card meant about doctors playing golf and why it would make Sera faint when something clicked in his memory and all of the pieces fell into place.

Robert stopped in his tracks and stared at Sera, who was stirring in his arms. He turned his shocked face to Cuddy. "Gray eyes. Pink roses. Oh my God! Is this who I think it is?"

Cuddy hesitated only a second before nodding. "Yes."

Robert looked at the card that Cuddy had taken back from Robert. "So those flowers are from…"

Cuddy had moved in front of Robert, leading him to her office instead of one of the exam rooms. She turned back to answer him. "YES! So we have got to get her into my office so I can make some calls."

Robert was stunned, but he realized his questions would have to be answered later when Sera suddenly jerked in his arms and woke up, screaming, "Robert! Robert…no, not Robert…" He quickly reassured her.

"I'm here, Sera. I'm alright. I'm here." Sera stopped screaming and began to cry, putting her arms around his neck and holding him tightly. They got to Lisa's office and stepped into room. Robert sat on the sofa and gently held Sera on his lap while Lisa locked the door. He rocked her until her sobs diminished.

Lisa had called the police as well as the FBI agent who worked the case that Sera was involved with. She also called hospital security and had them send a couple of guys to stay near her office. She sat on the sofa next to Robert, who was tenderly wiping the tears off of Sera's face. She watched them. Even though she knew Robert must be burning with curiosity and probably a bit of anger, he was being very gentle with Sera and seeing to her welfare. Seeing this, Lisa felt more comfortable about confirming Sera's identity to Robert. She was rather impressed that he figured it out, actually. All that time working with House had definitely improved his deductive reasoning skills.

Robert carefully cleaned the tears from Sera's face. She was much calmer now, and even took the tissue from him to wipe her own face. She gave him a tiny smile. "Thank you, Robert."

He looked at her thoughtfully and without smiling. "You're welcome, Dr. Blair."

Sera's eyes widened and she looked at Lisa accusingly. Lisa held up both hands in defense. "He figured it out. The eyes, the flowers, and the note kind of gave it away."

"That, and he's been working under the master for over two years now." The chair at Lisa's desk spun slowly around to reveal House sitting there. Ignoring Cuddy's irritated "Get out!", he limped over to where Sera was still sitting on Chase's lap and tilted her chin up with his forefinger. He took in her red eyes and tear-stained face before asking her, "You okay?"

Sera nodded, slightly bewildered that he was acting concerned. She had to ask him, though, "How long have you known?"

House pretended to think. "Oh, since last week. You were just a little too good during differential. Besides, your eyes have been bothering me since I met you. They don't fit your face. They're too dark."

Sera looked at him incredulously. "House, they're brown. I'm African-American. How can my eyes be too dark?"

House shrugged. "I'm sure I've seen pictures of you before. My subconscious must have remembered you. Besides, after you came up with the disease in differential, I looked up some research on it. Nice job using information from your own article. You must have wanted me to figure it out."

Sera rolled her eyes. "I wrote the article using my real name. I didn't think you'd make the connection."

House smirked. "It's easy to make it when they have a picture of you at the end of the article." Sera gasped, "They do not! They didn't tell me they were using a picture!"

Lisa and Robert couldn't believe they were listening to such an inane conversation. Lisa interrupted her two friends. "Hello! Have you forgotten that we have a major situation here?"

Sera sighed loudly. "Well, thanks a lot, Ms. Killjoy. I was actually trying to take my mind off of the fact that, once again, a psychopathic serial killer is after me." Sera got off of Robert's lap and began to walk around the office. She took a few deep breaths and gracefully dropped onto her knees. She began to breathe in slowly and deeply, dropping her chin down to her chest, placing her hands on her thighs and closing her eyes. House went and stood next to her, looking at her with amusement. "Is this the part where we start to chant?"

Lisa walked over and shoved House towards a chair. "Look, when you need to work something out, you play with your yo-yo, your balls, or your video games. She meditates. She says it centers her, or something. We need to just stay here and wait for the feds. They should be here soon."

Robert leaned back on the sofa and let his head drop back so that he was looking at the ceiling. He thought about everything he knew about Dr. Serenity Blair, which wasn't much. He had never even heard about her until her last case, which went international. She had a degree in forensic psychology, but went on to become a doctor in forensic pathology. She helped with some criminal profiling on difficult cases, which is how she wound up working serial killer cases. Robert shook his head. He never understood how people could get into the minds of murderers and not lose their own sanity. He felt the sofa dip next to him and looked to see Lisa.

"You're not angry with Sera, are you? None of this is her fault and it's been so hard for her to trust…" Robert held up his hand. "No, I'm angry at the situation, not her. I'm angry because there's some madman after her. I'm angry because she's been hurt by this person before. I'm angry because there's not a dmn thing I can do to help her!"

"That's not true." Sera commented softly from the floor, still kneeling with her eyes closed. "You see, I've just decided something. I decided that I'm not crying anymore, I'm not hiding anymore, and I'm not running anymore. I want to say that I won't be scared anymore, but that's a lie. I'm scared now, but I refuse to let the fear run my life." Sera opened her eyes and, with one fluid motion, jumped to her feet from her kneeling position. She walked over to Chase and kneeled down on front of him. She ignored House's gagging noises and "Ew, get a room!" comment as she moved forward so that she was kneeling between his legs.

Sera reached out and gently stroked Robert's face, pushing his hair back out of his face and running her fingers along his sexy lips. "You're really not mad at me for lying to you?", she asked him. Robert leaned forward so his forehead was touching hers. "No, I'm not mad at you. I understand why you had to hide your identity." Sera smiled and kissed him softly. Behind her, House was making retching noises. She heard a noise and realized Lisa must have slapped House on the arm or shoulder or something. The "Ow!" she heard immediately following the noise confirmed her deduction. Sera and Robert grinned at each other.

Sera jumped slightly when her cell phone vibrated. So few people called her, so whenever it did go off, it never failed to make her jump. She pulled it out and answered. Her eyes widened and she mouthed to Robert, "It's him!"


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 9**

Cuddy immediately pulled out her cell phone and called the feds again. She went to the opposite side of the room so that the madman on Sera's phone wouldn't hear her. Sera put her phone on speaker and reached in Lisa's desk drawer. She pulled out the digital recorder that Lisa used to make notes to herself and set it on the desk next to her cell phone.

_S: Hello, Winston. Long time, no hear from. Not that I've missed you._

_W: My darling Serenity. Or should I call you Sera? How wonderful to hear your_

_voice!_

_S: Save it, Winston. What do you want? _

_W: Just to say hello, dear! By the way, I love you in purple. It brings out your _

_eyes…your real eyes, that is._

Sera walked swiftly over to Lisa's desk and scribbled a note and handed it to Robert to give to Lisa. Lisa glanced down at it: _He may still be in the hospital_. Lisa paled and went back to talking on the phone while Sera continued her conversation with Winston Dumas.

_S: I got your flower delivery. What exactly was the purpose of sending me flowers?_

_W: You're the genius. You tell me._

_S: You thought you would scare me into running. But guess what, Winston? I'm not _

_going anywhere. You're actually going to have to deal with me. And I'm a lot _

_tougher than I used to be. _

_W: Sera, dear. Ask Dr. House if he knows where his children are?_

There was a click then a dial tone. Sera stared at her phone in horror for a few seconds. Her eyes met House's eyes, which widened in understanding. Sera told him, "Call Eric and Allison…now!"

The next few minutes were tense while House tried to reach his two absent ducklings. He had the phone to his ear, listening to the endless rings. He glanced over at Sera and shook his head before trying to dial again. Just then, the door to Lisa's office opened and two men stepped in the door.

Sera literally flew over to where the men stood and grabbed them both in a big hug. "Mitch, David, it's so good to see you. I just got off the phone with that bstard. He's been here and was here as recently as maybe 45 minutes ago."

Robert walked over and stood next to her, putting a hand on her waist. Sera mentally rolled her eyes. Even in the middle of a crisis, Robert was being such a _guy_. He asked her, "How do you know he was here that recently?"

Sera plucked at her purple scrubs. "I got some…stuff…on me, courtesy of our patient. I changed scrubs just before I came to see Lisa. I had on yellow earlier." She turned to Mitch and David, who looked confused. "He told me that he loved me in purple." Both men nodded in understanding. Sera continued, "It's been about 45 minutes since I first came here. We talked for about 20 minutes, then left to go to the cafeteria when I was given the flowers. I sorta fainted, but I think I was only out for a minute or so. We've been in here ever since. Are you two alone?"

Mitch grimaced. "Are you kidding me? This guy is at the top of our most wanted list. There are at least 12 Bureau guys searching the hospital."

Sera glanced over at House, who was still trying to get the rest of the team on the phone. She could tell from the furrows on his forehead that he wasn't getting anywhere. She turned to the agents. "There's something else. He probably has Allison Cameron, a doctor on the diagnostics team. And I'm scared that Eric Foreman, the other doctor on our team, might be hurt."

House came over. "How do you know he 'has' Cameron? What if she's been hurt, too?" Sera looked at him with sympathy in her eyes, and a bit of guilt. "House, this guy sticks to the same MO. He's deviated a bit this time by remaining at the scene after he dropped off the flowers. Usually, he delivers them and leaves immediately. But it's highly unlikely that he'll deviate totally. He always kidnaps his victims, holds them for a while, then kills them. He buries them within 2 miles of where they were murdered and covers the grave with dozens of pink roses."

House's piercing eyes bored into her. "He doesn't just hold them, does he? The details of his torture were not made available to the media. I do know that none of his victims were able to have open casket funerals." Sera looked down, uncomfortable. She knew that House would not be satisfied with half-answers. She looked up and met his eyes. "He tortures them by cutting them. He is apparently a knife aficionado and uses all different types of blades on his victims. He cuts patterns into them, and, in one case, seemed to be trying to perform an autopsy on one. While she was alive, of course. He always takes women…pretty women. And he always cuts up their faces worse than any other part of their body. After he's done with them, he delivers a lethal dose of curare."

At Robert's questioning look, she elaborated. "It's commonly used on blow darts by people indigenous to Guiana, among other places. In small doses, it can cause paralysis, but if a large enough, and concentrated enough, amount is delivered, it leads to asphyxiation. He dips a clip-point blade into the curare, and stabs his victims. Autopsies have shown that the wound itself isn't lethal, but the poison is."

House and Robert listened to her monotone description in dismay. House pulled out his phone to try calling Cameron again. He put the phone down when he heard a "What? Where?" come from the other side of the office. Mitch had been talking to the other agents searching the hospital. He had his headset on and was frantically issuing orders. "We're in a hospital, for crying out loud. Get somebody down there!" Mitch turned to Lisa, who was standing next to him. "They found Dr. Foreman in a stairwell between the 2nd and 3rd floors. He's bleeding pretty badly, apparently from a knife wound. I need you to…" Mitch was talking to air as Lisa ran out of the office with Robert close behind her. Sera glanced at David. "Stay with them." David nodded and ran out after them.

Mitch came over to stand next to Sera. "It would be better if we get you somewhere safe. There's too much dmn glass in this place and we can't keep you safe…"

Sera cut him off impatiently. "Mitch, you guys can't keep me safe, period. Unless you throw me in a maximum security cell somewhere, I'm never going to be safe as long as Dumas is running around. I'm done with hiding. Dr. House and I are going to the diagnostic department and we're going to try to figure out where this guy is taking Cameron. You're welcome to join us, or you can stay here and play with your gun."

House followed Sera out of Lisa's office. He walked up next to her and said out of the side of his mouth, "I'm helping you? I'm not a profiler or a forensic psychologist." Sera stopped and looked at him. She noticed Mitch standing just behind them, but ignored him.

"Look, House – are you a diagnostician or not? This is the same thing. Use the clues you have to solve the riddle. You claim to be brilliant. Prove it. Help me and the rest of these guys save Allison."

"But Foreman…"

"Eric will be fine. Do you think Robert went rushing out of the office to hold Lisa's hand? He's the best in a crisis, whether you want to admit it or not. If it was something he couldn't handle, he or Lisa would have called by now. Let's go. I want to listen to the phone conversation again and figure out what he's up to. It's a game to him, and he always leaves a clue."

"Clue, huh? I always was good at that game." House smirked at her and Sera breathed a sigh of relief. Whiny or defeated House was no good to her, but cocky, snarky House was the master at solving puzzles. And she needed all of the help she could get.


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 10**

House followed behind Sera, his mind going in fifty directions at once. He was sick of this. Once again, someone on his team was in jeopardy. Two someones, if you counted Foreman. 'See', he thought, 'This is what happens when you start to care. Someone always pulls the rug out from under you.'

He watched Sera's shapely behind moving quickly ahead of him, but try as he might, he couldn't muster up one lascivious thought. He kept imagining Cameron's face, cut beyond recognition, damaged beyond repair. Even if they saved her before she was…House couldn't wrap his mind around the word "killed". But even if they did find her in time, would she be okay emotionally and mentally? He had a feeling she would never by the disgustingly, annoyingly optimistic, ever hopeful, little Miss Do-Right that she used to be.

Sera stopped suddenly and turned to face House. She was about to speak when she noticed the morose look back on his face. She stamped her foot in frustration. "Oh, for the love of…House, will you snap the hll out of it! We don't have time for your pity party or your regrets. You can mourn your lost opportunities later – now, we have work to do!"

Hose looked at her in shocked confusion. "Missed opportunities! You don't think I was interested in that little girl, do you?" Sera wiped her brow in mock relief. "Well, I don't now, thank God." She tilted her head and looked at him thoughtfully.

"You really do think of them as your kids, don't you?" Sera ignored the scoffing sounds House was making as she continued. "Eric is the oldest boy who's like a chip off the old block, Allison is your angel that you want to protect while at the same time toughen up a bit, and Robert…actually, Robert's like the middle child who gets lost in the shuffle."

House and Mitch, who had continued to follow them, looked at her as she stared into space, thinking about what she'd just said. House whacked her lightly with his cane to get her attention. "How is this enlightening look into our dysfunctional family help us same Cameron from some maniac bent on getting his revenge against you?"

Sera blinked and looked at House, focusing on the scar on the right side of his neck. She stared at it for a while, then said, almost dreamily, "Are you sure I'm the one he's trying to seek revenge on?"

Sera turned on her heel and practically ran towards the diagnostic department with House and Mitch hurrying behind her after sharing a completely bewildered look.

Sera arrived in the diagnostics office and went straight to the table where the coffee maker was. She made a fresh pot and nuked some water so that she could have some tea. She walked over to Mitch and took his headset ("Hey!") and called David.

"Hey, Dave….how is he?...what?...so is he coming up when he's done?...they are?...I thought I told you to stay with them! What the… well, I wanted _you_ to stick with Lisa and Robert… just tell your crime lab people not to mess up the scene before I can get there…yeah, I know, but maybe he was careless. And get someone up here with some recording equipment. He's gonna call back. And I want Eric questioned when he gets up here and not a second before…. What?...**I** put me in charge of the investigation – you got a problem with that?...whatever, David!"

Sera disconnected and gave the headset back to Mitch, who was smirking at her. "You know he hates it when you start barking orders." Sera shrugged, unconcerned. They went through this every time. She didn't care how much David pouted, as long as he did what she said.

Sera looked at House, who had just whacked her again with his cane. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You do NOT want to hit me with that thing again!" She glared at him for a second then relented. "Eric is going to be fine. The wound is superficial. There was a lot of blood, but nothing major. In fact, by the time Robert got there, it had all but stopped. Eric is being stitched up now. He's going to need a lot of stitches, but he asked for a local so that he'd be able to answer questions to help get Allison back." She took a step closer to House and gave him a stern look. "He's going to be in a lot of pain and he probably already feels guilty, so no comments from you! I know how you are, but if you can't say something nice, then shut up!"

House opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but something in her eyes made him stop. She had that dangerous glint again. He nodded once. Sera looked over as Lisa and Robert came in the room, trailed by an agent. Sera didn't recognize her, but the woman came over with her hand out.

"Dr. Blair, I'm Agent Ruth Mix. I've heard so much about you. It's really an honor to meet you." Sera shook her hand, feeling slightly embarrassed. She had been out of the business for a while, and wasn't used to accolades. She turned to Robert, who was looking at her rather clinically, as if making sure she was okay. She smiled at him and was relieved when he smiled back. He gently chucked her under the chin and went to sit down. Sera fought off the urge to grin stupidly and went to get some chart paper from the closet.

She quickly wrote down the conversation she had with Dumas on the chart paper and taped it to the wall near the white board. Mitch and Ruth read over it carefully. She saw House looking at it, but knew he had already committed it to memory. She picked up a marker and wrote down the word "church". She saw House nodding out of the corner of her eye. Mitch looked at her. "Why a church?"

Sera nodded at House, who answered. "He refers to my team as my children. That would make me the father. Father House. It just screams 'church'." Sera nodded, then added, "Plus, Dumas' father is a Catholic priest. A very nice man who has been cooperating fully with the investigation. Where is Dumas's father's house? His daddy lives in a church."

Mitch just shook his head. He wasn't sure he would have drawn that conclusion, but he also wasn't a famous profiler, either. Sera was rarely wrong. And even when she was wrong, she was never totally wrong. Just off by some small detail. Agent Mix wasn't convinced. "Dr. Blair, I'm not sure I agree with that assessment. It seems a bit too convoluted." Sera stared at her for a moment, then looked at the other agent. "Mitch?" Sera's tone clearly told him to handle Agent Mix.

Mitch leaned over and whispered something to Ruth. She looked like she wanted to protest, but Mitch kept whispering and she closed her mouth. Meanwhile, Sera was talking. "There's got to be at least a million churches in this area. We should probably limit the search to Catholic churches. Maybe Lutheran, as well. That's still going to take too long. We need more info. Maybe when Eric gets here, he'll be able to help."

Sera picked up another marker and made a chart with 15 rows and 2 columns. At the top of the first column, she put the word "victim" and at the top of the other, she put the word "motive". She turned to her group. "Dumas didn't choose his victims randomly. He has a very refined sense of justice. He only goes after people that have either wronged him or wronged someone he knows. If the person who needs a comeuppance is a male, then he finds a pretty female that has some kind of connection to him and takes his vengeance out on her. He thinks it's his right to mete out consequences. Apparently God, in his eyes, is taking too long."

"I want to go through his previous victims and the motives he had for going after them. We've been able to make connections sometimes by looking at other victims. I want to know what motive he would have for going after Dr. Cameron. Either his "justice" is against her directly, or he's trying to get back at someone close to her."

House looked at Sera. "You don't think it's you?" Sera shook her head. "I did at first, but he already got his revenge on me when he killed Jamal. Even though Jamal's murder was not planned, he still killed someone close to me. So, in his twisted mind, we're even. That's why I haven't heard from him until now. I think he sent the roses just to throw me off. He loves a good red herring. He wants me to think he's trying to get at me, but I don't think that's the case. Also, he only uses other pretty women when the person he wants to get is not a pretty woman. I hope I don't sound immodest here, but I've been told that I'm attractive. He wouldn't need a substitute for me. He already captured me once and tried to kill me. That's when Jamal got killed – when he came to save me."

Sera smirked at House and Robert. "Besides, if Dumas wanted to strike out at someone close to me to hurt me, why on earth would he choose Cameron? Lisa would have been a better target. She's beautiful, and she's my best friend. She and I also don't have the history of animosity that Cameron and I have." She heard House mutter, "I don't know if I'd call Cuddy _beautiful_…" She snorted at his comment, then walked over to where he was sitting. She lightly traced the scar on his neck. House leered at her. "I hope you're not coming on to me, because I'd hate to see what an angry wombat looks like." He lifted his cane and whacked her hand off of him. Sera shocked him by snatching it out of his hands.

Sera quickly twirled the cane, sent it behind her back, then swung it around and brought it to a sudden stop about a centimeter away from his face. House's eyes widened. She tapped him lightly on the forehead with the cane, but her eyes were flashing with anger. "You just made my point beautifully. You make enemies. You save lives, true, but you make enemies while doing it because you push people too far and you don't know when to shut up! That's why a few months ago someone shot you! I think that somewhere along the line, you either had Winston Dumas as a patient or you treated someone close to him and, you being you, you pissed the man off. Aren't you lucky that you had a pretty woman close to you to take your punishment?"

She tossed the cane in his direction and went to the door. She looked back at Mitch. "You know the cases. Get the info up on the board and call me when Dr. Foreman gets here." She pointed at Ruth Mix, who looked like she was about to get up. "Don't follow me!" Sera left the room. House, who had been sitting with a look of astonishment and guilt on his face, let out a breath and turned to Robert. "Well, my boy, you've certainly got your hands full with that one!" Robert looked at House in disgust, muttered, "Shut up, House" then went to follow Sera. Mitch stopped him at the door.

"I wouldn't follow her if I were you. She needs some thinking time, alone. She's also angry that this guy is still running around hurting people, plus, I think she's also irritated at your boss, so she's probably going to blow off some steam. Unless you want to become collateral damage, you really should leave her alone." Robert shrugged off the man's hand on his shoulder. "I'll take my chances", he said, then left the room.

Mitch shrugged and said, under his breath, "Fools heed warnings not." He turned to the whiteboard to fill out Sera's chart.


	11. Chapter 11

_Author's note: Sorry about the delay. I lost my disk with my story on it, but I found it recently. I will try to post regularly. This whole fic is already completed, so I truly hope to be able to post every other day until the whole thing is up. I am currently working on the sequel._

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 11**

Robert followed behind Sera, hoping that she wouldn't see him. He didn't actually want to interfere with her alone time, but even though she didn't think she was in danger from this Dumas character, he didn't want to take any chances.

She stopped first at the stairwell where Foreman was found. She spoke to the people working there and she put on gloves and looked around a bit. She saw a discarded pink rose. Dumas was famous for leaving one gorgeous pink rose at the scene of the crime. The press had a field day with this particular calling card. Some original, creative soul had dubbed him "The Pink-Rose Killer". It was bad enough when the press romanticized these killers by coming up with nicknames. It was even worse when the nickname really sucked.

She saw the footprints that had been sectioned off…apparently someone had stepped in Eric's blood and left tracks. She called the photographer over and had him take pictures of the footprints. She stared at them for a while, then walked away, taking off her gloves and throwing them into the trash. Next, she headed downstairs towards the hospital fitness room. Robert tried to stay far enough back so she wouldn't see him, but he was caught off guard when she suddenly whirled around and glared at him.

"Ok, what part of 'don't follow me' did you not understand? Oh, wait, let me break it down for you so you WILL understand."

Sera shook her hair back and said, with a fairly passable Aussie accent, "Oy, Robert. Mind your own bizzo. Now be a good bloke, hop on the lift, get your bum back to the office, have a cuppa, grab some tucker, and stop being such a stickybeak!"

Sera turned on her heel and marched off, leaving Robert staring after her for a moment with a dazed look of amazement on his face. He thought, 'I think I love this woman' before jogging after her.

Hearing his footsteps, Sera stopped in her tracks again and sighed. She turned to him…_again_, saying, "I know a lot of NOT nice things I can say, too. _Please_ leave me alone!" Robert took his life into his hands and grabbed her arm as she went to walk away again. She whirled, about to let him have it, but he pulled her to him and kissed her full on the lips. She pushed at him for a minute, but gradually began to lose herself in the kiss. They didn't notice the other people in the hallway stopping to stare at them. They didn't even hear the whistles and catcalls.

After what seemed like an eternity, Robert drew away from Sera a bit. He was supporting most of her weight since her knees didn't seem to be capable of handling the job. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him in awe. "Holy dooley!", she exclaimed softly.

Robert let out a bark of laughter before stepping away from Sera, holding her arms to give her a bit of support. Once Sera steadied herself, she glared at him. "You know, that was pretty risky. You could have wound up on your butt again." Robert grinned at her. "Well, what's life without a little risk, eh?" He waggled his eyebrows up and down at her.

Sera reached up and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "You are too sexy. You know that? But if you ever grab and maul me like that in public again, I'm going to show you what a _kata guruma_ throw looks like." Robert slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her up against him. "Oooh, sounds kinky. I guess I'll get to see this kata gura-whatsis soon because I'm about to maul you again."

He leaned down to kiss her smiling lips again. Robert was pleased. His spur-of-the-moment plan to calm her down and give her a few happy moments in the middle of this mess had worked better than he though it would. He knew that she was scared to death and worried about Cameron, and he also knew that, even though she didn't show it, she was incredibly distressed about Eric. They had gotten pretty close in the past couple of month, acting like brother and sister most of the time, and Robert knew it must have killed her to not run immediately to his side when he was attacked. He almost envied her ability to compartmentalize like that. He wasn't sure he could handle the job she used to have. He'd go insane.

Robert had barely touched his lips against her soft ones when he heard Eric's voice behind him, "Aughhh! My eyes, my eyes!!" Robert paused only for a second to say, "I guess you'd better close them, then." He went to finish what he started, but Sera had gasped and twisted out of his grasp. She ran over to where Eric was sitting in a wheelchair, but came to a sudden stop.

"Where did he get you?", she asked. Eric grimaced. "Bstard tried to rip my gut open." Sera threw her arms around his neck, half-choking him. "I'm so glad you're okay! Don't ever do that to me again!!" She was a bit surprised by the tears coming from her eyes. She had cried more in the past two hours than she had in the last five years.

Eric saw the wetness on her face and reached over to wipe her face gently. "Hey", he said softly. "I'm okay. I'm not the one you need to worry about." Sera leaned into his hand a bit, taking comfort in the strength she felt there.

Sera felt sudden prickling sensations, as if tiny, hot daggers were jabbing into her. She glanced up and saw the extremely irate gaze of the buxom nurse that was pushing the wheelchair. She vaguely remembered the woman from her brief assignment to the ER. 'Ah, so THAT'S why Eric's been volunteering to help out when they've been short-staffed down there', she thought. Sera had ignored the evil looks she received from nearly every female in the corridor when Robert had kissed her, but she couldn't ignore _this _blistering look. She stood and held out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Sera. You're…Dora?...Dina?..." "Donna", the nurse said, reluctantly shaking her hand. Sera smiled her brightest, most charming smile. She really didn't need another reason to have to watch her back. "Thanks for taking care of Eric. He's like a brother to me…a pain-in-the-butt, know-it-all, annoying brother." Donna immediately relaxed and gave Sera a genuine smile. "Aren't all brothers like that?" Sera and Donna chuckled together for a moment, then became silent again.

Sera looked at Eric, all traces of laughter gone. "Are you okay to do this? I know you're in a lot of pain right now, and you're going to have to answer a lot of questions. It may take a while. I'm surprised Dr. Tintagel let you go."

Eric looked back at Donna, who had one hand on his shoulder. "Well, she's only letting me talk to the Feds. I have to stay overnight for observation. And she only let me go talk to them if I had one of the nurses with me at all times." Sera raised an eyebrow. "What…sending you to a room with four doctors wasn't good enough for her?"

Eric shrugged. "Anyway, I'm okay. I want to do what I can to help save Cameron…" Eric's voice broke a bit. Sera was going to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Diana was already there. Eric reached up and squeezed Diana's hand gently, smiling a bit at her. Sera stepped away, wondering why she felt slightly hurt, when a hand slipped into hers and she received her own gentle squeeze.

Robert tugged her towards the elevators. "Come on, guys. Let's head back up to the war room." Diana followed Robert and Sera, pushing Eric, who started frowning. "Wait…four doctors? House, Chase, Dr. Cuddy…who else? Is Wilson there, too?" Robert and Sera glanced at each other, then back to Eric. Sera winked at him. "That's right. You missed the big denouement. Wait'll you hear this. I'll fill you in on the elevator." They all piled onto the elevator as Sera started talking.

Sera was still talking when the four of them stepped off of the elevator.

"So, I packed up my things and the FBI helped me relocate. I've been jumping from place to place for the past 5 years. I'd been avoiding the fields of medicine and forensics, but I found that I missed it too much, so I called Lisa and here I am. Now, I guess I'm back to work. The man who hurt you and snatched Allison is Winston Dumas, the…"

"…the Pink Rose Killer!" Eric interrupted her, his voice escalating a bit. "I saw the rose he tossed at me while I was bleeding on the floor, but I was losing consciousness, so I didn't make the connection…wait a minute! This is because of you! He grabbed Allison and stabbed me because of you, didn't he?"

Eric looked up as Sera stopped suddenly. He saw a pained look cross her face before her expression hardened and she said to him coldly, "No, he grabbed Allison because he's a psychopath and he gets off on hurting women." She turned and stalked off towards the diagnostics department. Robert followed her, stopping briefly to frown at Eric and say, "Niiiiiice."

Eric opened his mouth to speak, but closed it with a sigh as Robert walked away. He put his face in his hands and groaned, "I shouldn't have said that!" He glanced up at Donna, who gave him a sympathetic look before grabbing the handles of the wheelchair to push him down the hall. "No, you shouldn't have, but I'm sure a sincere, heartfelt apology will work wonders. And some chocolate. Definitely chocolate."

Sera walked into the "war room", as Robert had dubbed it, and sat down at the table. She tossed her cell phone to David, who had returned during her absence, so he could attach it to the recording device on the table. She then stared at a spot on the table, a frown marring her face. House watched her brood for a few seconds then turned to Robert, who had just come through the door. He jerked his thumb in Sera's direction, saying, "I thought she was leaving to blow off steam, not get even more riled up."

Robert shrugged and glanced up as Donna pushed Eric into the room. "Hey, don't blame me. Blame Mr. Big Mouth over there." House knew that whatever Foreman had said to Sera was bad because the neurologist didn't roll his eyes, shake his head, or make any sarcastic response to what Chase said. House turned to Foreman to ask him what he'd done, but Sera, without even looking up, said "House…don't."

Sera stood up and went over to the board, which Mitch had filled with information about the previous cases. Someone, probably Lisa, had gotten a second whiteboard to write on. Actually, it wasn't a "white" board; it was the old clear board House used to use. Sera muttered under her breath, "I hate these stupid things". She ripped a piece of chart paper off the pad and taped it to the back of the clear board. She nodded her satisfaction, then looked at what Mitch had started writing on the second board.

Mitch had written the word "MOTIVE" on the top and underneath had two names – hers and House's. Sera frowned at the names. "Why isn't Cameron's name listed?" House spoke up. "I can't imagine Cameron of Sunnybrook Farms pissing someone off enough for them to want to kill her."

Sera turned back to the board and wrote "Cameron" next to the other names. "House, assumption is the mother of all screw ups. You know that. Plus, you've only known Allison for a little over two years. Dumas is a firm believer in the "revenge is a dish best served cold" school of thought. She could have turned him down for a date ten years ago and he's been biding his time since then. We need to do some investigating into Allison's background to see if we can find a connection. The place he takes his victims usually has some relevance to how he knows them, so if we find out why he took Allison, we might be able to figure out where he took her. And, if he sticks with his usual pattern, we only have about 20 hours to figure this all out before…well, before he starts to make her life a living hell."


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 12**

Dave pulled out a file and opened it. "We already did a quick check on Dr. Cameron. With the exception of two speeding tickets and one pick-pocketing incident, she's squeaky clean." House looked like Christmas had come early. He couldn't resist opening his mouth. "Pick-pocketing incident? You've got to be kidding me." Dave shook his head. "No, we have it right here. When she was…"

Mitch put his hand up to stop Dave, glaring at him a bit when he did. He looked around the room, mentally figuring out who needed to be there and who did not. "Drs. Cuddy and Chase, and…um…you….Nurse…. sorry, I don't know your name. But I need you three to step out of the room. We don't normally have this many people involved in a case and we need to keep a tight lid on this. The fewer people involved, the better. Dr. House is going to be helping us, so he can stay, and we need to get a statement from Dr. Foreman, but after that, he can leave. The rest of you can leave now. And please remember, Dr. Cameron's life may depend on your silence, so do not discuss any of this…not even with each other."

Everyone started speaking at once, mostly in protest. Sera didn't say anything. She had worked with Mitch long enough to know that emotional outbursts weren't going to change his mind. He came off as very stoic and unemotional (which Sera knew for a fact was NOT the case), but he was excellent at his job and was fiercely loyal. He was in line to be the next assistant director of the FBI, which is why he was in charge of this case. He was very analytical, so while the hullabaloo was going on around her, Sera tried to come up with logical reasons why Robert and Lisa needed to stay. She actually wasn't too keen on Donna staying. The nurse was a somewhat unknown entity, and Sea didn't know yet if she could be trusted.

Mitch held up his hand for silence. When it quieted down, Sera opened her mouth to speak, but House beat her to it. "Look, I can't do this without my team. We work together. I don't come up with all of this stuff by myself, you know. Chase has helped to point me in the right direction more times than I can count, and Foreman is the one that keeps us from stepping too far over the line. I won't work without my team."

House was cursing inwardly. 'What the hell did I say that for?', he wondered. He glanced up and saw Cuddy, Chase and Foreman staring at him in shock. Sera was just nodding her agreement. She glanced at him and smiled approvingly. House made a face at her. Sera just smiled wider before adding on to what he had said.

"House is right, Mitch. This team, for all of its quirks, works better together. Besides, they know Dr. Cameron better than any of us do. We need all of the insight into her life that we can get. And you know Lisa pretty much already knows everything that's been going on. We trusted her enough to hide my identity when I came here. I trust her enough for this." Sera could see Mitch was considering it. They were all surprised to hear another voice speak up.

"Allison and I are friends." Donna stood up from where she was sitting slightly behind Eric. "In fact, she's the one who introduced me to Eric…Dr. Foreman." She blushed slightly at this point, but continued. "Maybe I could help. Allison and I spoke all of the time and hung out nearly every week. I probably know more about her life outside of the hospital that anyone else in this room." Eric nodded, confirming what Donna had said.

Mitch stood in front of them, obviously having an internal debate about what to do. He finally glared around the room and said to them all, in a stern voice, "Fine. You can all stay, but nothing discussed in this room leaves this room. Is that clear?" There was a chorus of affirmative responses, including a snappy "Sir, yes, sir!" from House. Mitch nodded at Dave to continue reading the file.

"Basically, when Dr. Cameron was 17 years old, she was arrested for lifting a wallet off of a gentleman at the mall. Apparently, her friends dared her to do it. The charges were later dropped."

House interjected at this point, "She probably got all teary-eyed and flashed those sweet, innocent looking baby-greens…" David flashed a grin at House, who was rubbing his leg where someone just kicked him. He thought it might have been Cuddy, but it could have been Sera, too. Neither of them would catch his eye. David was still smiling as he read a notation from the file.

"After the perp apologized profusely to the victim and expressed her deepest remorse, the gentleman decided not to press charges."

House spoke up again. "See, an ugly chick wouldn't have gotten away with that…OW! Who the hell keeps kicking me?" House glared around the table, but none of the faces were giving him any clues.

Sera stood up and walked over to peek at the file in Dave's hand. "Okay…so, Cameron was a juvenile delinquent…sorta. I don't see anything helpful there…unless the victim's name was Dumas?", she asked almost hopefully. Dave shook his head regretfully. "Nope. Byron McAllister. Died four years ago from pancreatic cancer."

Sera grabbed the recorder that Dave had brought in and set in on the table in front of Eric. "Ok, Eric. We need for you to tell us what happened when Dumas got Cameron. We'll try not to interrupt – just tell us every detail you can remember, no matter how insignificant it may seem. We'll ask you questions when you're done. Hopefully, by the time you're done, the Professor would have arrived and we can figure out what Dumas is up to."

Robert, House, Donna, and Eric looked at Sera in confusion. Donna asked what they were all thinking. "Who on earth is the Professor?"

"The Professor is the other brainiac on the team", said Dave, jokingly. Sera rolled her eyes and looked at her PPTH friends.

"The Professor is my mentor. In fact, she's the reason I work with the FBI. She's a forensic psychologist and one of my college professors. She was working on a case about 12 years ago that no one could solve. They were looking for a little girl that was being held hostage. The guy was a relative or something…total nut job. Anyway, she presented the case to us during a class for us to create a profile. We didn't know we were working on a real case. After we had discussed it for a while, I asked her if they had found the girl alive at the man's abandoned childhood home. She just stared at me for a minute then rushed out of the room.

None of us knew where she was going, but she had called the FBI to tell them where to look. Turns out, the man had taken the little girl to his old home. There had been a fire there and no one had lived there for years. Unfortunately, they found the girl too late. The next time the Professor was called in to assist the feds, she took me with her. She kind of made me her apprentice. I've been working with them ever since. She and I don't usually work together anymore, but she is the expert on Dumas. Twice, we've almost nabbed him. Well…three times if you include the time he kidnapped me."

Sera asked Mitch, "You DID call Prof, right?" Mitch gave her an annoyed look. "I called her the minute Dr. Cuddy called us. I'm lucky I caught her. She was about to board the plane to go to a conference in France. I'm surprised she answered the phone, actually. She was in the queue to get on the plane."

Dave snorted. "C'mon, Mitch. You know the Professor. She never lets a phone ring. She's almost obsessive about it." House's eyes, which had begun to glaze over and droop from boredom, suddenly snapped wide open. "What did you say?", he asked Dave. Dave frowned at him. "I just said that the Professor always answers the phone. Even if we are all out to dinner, she always answers the phone. I've flown with her and she doesn't turn the phone off until she's on the plane and about to take off."

House closed his eyes and began to massage his forehead as if he had a headache. Without looking up, he asked, "What is this professor's name?" Sera narrowed her eyes at him. "Professor Ling."

House muttered an oath. "Carmela Ling?", he asked. When Sera nodded, he cursed again and mumbled something about "…all the gin joints…" Sera stared at him until he looked up. Her eyes widened and she gasped. House could almost see the light bulb go off over her head. He cursed again.

"You! You're the one! The man who broke her heart in college! She told me about you. Although she exaggerated a bit. She said you were devastatingly handsome." Sera continued to glare at him. She opened her mouth to say something to him again, but she heard Robert's voice behind her saying softly, "You okay, mate?"

She turned and looked at Eric, who was diaphoretic and gripping his pencil tightly. His skin looked rather grayish. Donna was softly asking him something and he was shaking his head. Robert looked at her. "Can we save the trip down memory lane for later? Let Foreman give his statement so he can go back to his room and take something for the pain."

Eric shook his head. "I'll give my statement, but I'm staying here. I want to help. I'll be okay." Donna started to protest, but Eric cut her off. "Allison is your friend, too, and you would do the exact same thing. I DON'T want to argue about this." Eric smiled to soften his words. "I wouldn't mind if you help get me comfortable on that couch over there when I'm done giving my statement, though." Donna smiled and gently patted his face with a cool cloth Agent Mix had handed her.

House reached in his pocket and pulled out his pills. He took one out and slid it across the table to Eric. Eric picked it up and raised one eyebrow at House. "You really are trying to turn me into you, aren't you?" Donna went to get some water, which she handed to Eric, saying, "Quit griping. It'll take the edge off without making you too dopey. It was one of the PRN's Dr. Tintagel prescribed anyway." Eric took the medicine, ignoring House's "Wimp!" comment when he washed it down with water.

After he was done, Mitch sat down across from him, pushing Sera out of the way. He turned on the recorder and picked up his pen to take notes. Eric began speaking in a monotone voice, his hand still gripping the pencil tightly:

_Cameron and I were waiting for the elevator to go downstairs, but for some reason it was stuck on the 4th floor, so we decided to take the stairs. We started down…I forgot what we were talking about, but it wasn't anything important. I don't know what alerted me to someone else's presence. He must have made a noise or something, but I turned my head suddenly to look behind me. I felt a sharp little…I don't know…it felt like a small claw scratching me or something. I started to feel lightheaded and my vision got blurry. I began to fall and Cameron was shouting for help and trying to hold me up. I saw a man grab her and try to pull her away from me. I grabbed her arm and punched him. I only grazed him though, because I couldn't put a lot behind the punch. It was enough to throw him off balance since he was on the steps and he lost his grip on Allison._

_She tried to drag me to the door. I felt my legs giving out. I tried to stay up and keep myself between her and the guy. I saw him grabbing for her again and I pushed her behind me. That's when I felt something like fire cut into my abdomen. I fell backward, knocking Allison down with me. I felt her touching my legs…it almost felt like she was patting me down for weapons or something. I tried to tell her he didn't cut me there, but I couldn't talk. I felt numb…I couldn't feel her hands anymore. I could barely see at this point, but I saw him drop something pink on the ground. He had Cameron and was dragging her down the stairs to that back door between floors 1 and 2…you know, the one that leads around back where the service trucks make deliveries? I could hear her fighting him and calling me…just saying my name over and over. Not Foreman…she was crying, "Eric, no, Eric! Eric!" And I couldn't do a damn thing but lay there. Just lay there like a fking bump on a log while this monster drags her away. Then, suddenly, she stopped screaming and I heard him drag her off. Her voice stopped suddenly, like she was gagged…or more likely, drugged, because I couldn't hear any more thrashing. I heard a clatter, like something metallic hitting the ground. After that, I heard the door open. Then everything went black. But I swear, even when I was unconscious, I could still hear her screaming, "Eric! Eric!"_

The sudden loud crack as Eric snapped the pencil in his hand made everyone jump. Eric's eyes looked bleak and his hands were shaking. Sera went over to him and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. She felt his shoulders shaking and just held him tighter. Donna was standing behind his wheelchair, her arms wrapped around him from the back.

House looked at Foreman sandwiched between the two women and thought of at least five comments he could make. Then he thought about Cameron being dragged off by a murderer. He felt a wave of nausea and decided to keep his comments to himself. He glanced at Chase, who was also standing next to Eric, gently cleaning the blood from Eric's hand where the broken pencil had jammed into his skin. Robert looked at him and House could clearly see the entreaty in the younger man's eyes. House sighed and made his way over to Eric.

House awkwardly patted the small bit of Eric's shoulder that he could reach that wasn't being blocked by one of the women. After about a minute, Foreman stopped sobbing. House could hear him mutter something to Sera. Sera said, "What?" Eric lifted his head and said, a bit more clearly, "You're squeezing my stab wound." Sera gasped and jumped backwards, almost knocking House down. After he steadied the both of them, House carefully got down on one knee in front of Eric.

House held out a tissue to Eric, who took it and wiped his eyes. Eric looked up at his boss and steeled himself for some comment, some snarky remark. He made up his mind not to let anything House was going to say bother him. House put the handle of his cane under Eric's chin and gently raised his head. Looked into his slightly puffy brown eyes, House said, gruffly, "It's not your fault."

Eric was appalled to feel his eyes tearing up again. He blinked quickly, determined not to cry again in front of House, but House saw him anyway. "Oh, for cryin' out loud!" House got up quickly and walked to the other side of the room, muttering, "…trying to be nice…dmn crying…getting soft…"

They heard a voice coming from the doorway. "The day you get soft, House, is the day I'll do the can-can on top of the Louvre Museum."


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 13**

Everyone turned to see an attractive, trim woman in her mid-forties with brown hair pulled up into an attractive French twist. Sera saw her and went rushing to her, pulling the taller woman into a big hug. "Carmela!! I am SO happy to see you!" Carmela held Sera away from her, looking her up and down. "Oh, look at you! Skin and bones! Have you eaten anything in the past five years? You look gorgeous, of course, but so scrawny!!" Carmela pulled Sera close to her for another hug.

House stood and looked at the woman he hadn't seen in nearly 20 years. The years had been really good to her. She had a few laugh lines around her mouth and eyes, but other than that, she still looked just the way she did when they went to college together.

Sera introduced her briefly to everyone in the room, except for Mitch and Dave, who Carmela already knew. While Dave was fiddling with the recorder so that they could play back Eric's statement, Sera went to ask Mitch to have his agents check the stairwell again to see if Dumas had dropped his knife. She tried to keep one eye on Carmela, who had gone over to speak to House, and the other eye on Lisa, who had been watching the proceedings quietly.

Carmela stepped over to House. "Greg, how wonderful to see you again. My goodness, you got even sexier with age!" She stood on her tiptoes and kissed House on both cheeks. House smirked at her. "So, what's with the bourgeois, faux-Euro both-cheek-kissing crap?"

Carmela rolled her eyes. She looked pointedly at his cane. "So, I heard about your leg." House looked at her balefully. "Yeah…so?" She shrugged. "So…sucks to be you, that's all." House stared at her for a moment, unable to believe what she had just said. He felt the corner of his mouth wanting to twitch upwards into a half smile and he fought it valiantly. He was saved from embarrassment by Mitch calling them over.

Mitch looked at everyone assembled at the table. "One of the forensics guys found traces of blood on the floor about 10 feet to the left of the door Dumas took Dr. Cameron through. They also found a small nick in the floor near the blood. I'm guessing Dumas dropped the knife while he was struggling with Dr. Cameron. He must have picked it up after he rendered her unconscious. We're checking the blood against Dr. Foreman's anyway, just to be sure."

Mitch was about to continue when an intern knocked on the door and stuck his head in. "I have the blood work results for Dr. Foreman." House walked over and snatched the file from the young man before making shooing motions for him to leave. House opened the file and scanned it before handing it to Eric. "Probably not a shock to anyone, but Foreman has curare in his system. I guess your boy used a dart or something." House looked at Eric. "There's more than enough in your system to have knocked you out quickly. Even though the dart only scratched you, this stuff is potent enough to that you should have dropped like a stone immediately. I don't even know why you were able to fight as long as you did."

Lisa smiled softly. House was, in his own way, still trying to reassure Eric that he had done all he could - had in fact, gone above and beyond what he could - to save Cameron. He had continually surprised her today. He had been concerned about Sera, anguished over Cameron, and reassuring to Foreman. He had even complimented Chase. He was acting all _paternal_, and Lisa loved it. The last time she had seen him acting like this was when Foreman almost died. He was still his abrasive self, but anyone that knew him could see the fear underneath. Fear for his team…his children.

Lisa's smile disappeared as she saw Dr. Ling lean over House's arm to look at the file he had retrieved back from Eric. She nearly snarled when she saw the woman say something to House and he smiled at her. _Smiled_ at her! Lisa was fuming. She'd been putting up with House's crap for year - his abuse, his innuendos, his crass jokes – and he rarely graced her with a genuine smile. This _woman_ comes in with her cute traveling suit, throws around some air kisses, and he's a friggin' marshmallow.

Sera glanced over at the table and did a double take. Lisa was glaring at….Sera followed her line of sight and grinned. If looks could kill, Carmela would be toes up by now. Sera went over to the table and slid in next to Lisa as everyone else came over to finish going over Eric's statement. She whispered to her friend, "Green is SO not your color, sweetie." Lisa blushed slightly, muttering, "Shut up, Peace!" House, glancing in their direction as he sat down, noticed Cuddy's blush and wondered about it. He cocked his head to the side as he looked at her. 'Hmm', he thought. 'I need to make Cuddy blush more often…she looks hot.' As if she heard him, Lisa glanced up. When she noticed him staring at her, she blushed even more and looked pointedly at Agent Mitch. House smiled smugly. 'Oh, yeah. I AM the man.'

Mitch looked up as another agent entered the room. At his questioning look, the other agent told him, "Sir, we couldn't find the knife, but the footprint was a Nike tennis shoe, the Air Trainer Huarache. Unfortunately, it was one of the most popular shoes sold last year…millions of pairs sold at thousands of locations. Impossible to trace. But…" The young man pulled out another sheet of paper. "We discovered traces of two different blood types."

Mitch frowned at him. "Two? Can you determine…?" The agent interrupted in his excitement. "Yes, sir! One of the samples was Dr. Foreman's blood, which we expected. But the other one is NOT Dr. Cameron's. It doesn't come up in the system, so whoever it is isn't known to us." Mitch looked at others in the room. Dave came over. "And the blood sample isn't old?" The other agent looked at Dave in disgust. "No, sir, the two blood samples are the same age."

Mitch smiled grimly. "Well, Dr. Foreman, either your punch was more effective than you thought or Dr. Cameron was able to draw blood during her struggle. Either way, we have a blood sample of our murderer."

House spoke up. "Wait a minute. You've been chasing this guy for, what…6 years? And you've never gotten any kind of sample?"

Carmela answered him. "Greg, we don't even know what he looks like. We've come close to catching him two times now. The first time, we missed him by a matter of minutes. He had left a cigarette smoldering in the ashtray and it had only burned about an inch from the tip. We weren't in time to save his victim, unfortunately.

The second time we almost caught him was 18 months ago when he kidnapped Sera. There was no warning, no bouquet of roses, nothing. He knows Sera and her abilities, so he needed to completely catch her off guard. He respected her forensic skills and her intelligence while at the same time hated her for it. About five years ago, after Dumas killed her older sister…"

House interrupted. "That's right…I remember now. That's why you went on a sabbatical. But I thought you said Dumas wouldn't need to use another pretty woman as a substitute to get back at you."

Sera answered. "He wasn't getting back at me. He was getting back at her. They did a profile on me on 20/20, and they interviewed a few friends and family, asking them about how they deal with the more grisly aspects of my job. Faith decided to basically emasculate Dumas on national TV, calling him a coward, among other things, for preying on women. I begged them not to show that segment, but the producer thought that it made for good television. I tried to get a court order, but they rushed my segment into production and I couldn't stop it. So he made her his next victim. She refused protection…she wouldn't even let me stay with her. The week after the show aired, he kidnapped her. We found her four days later, her face sliced to ribbons and a dagger piercing her heart. The producer of 20/20 apologized to me at her funeral."

House said, humorlessly, "You kicked him in the nads. It made national news." Sera shrugged. "What can I say…I was grief-stricken."

Sera continued the story. "After what happened to Faith, I decided I wanted out. So I packed up my things and left. The Feds offered to relocate me, but I refused. I didn't want anyone to know where I was. Of course, Winston always found me. I don't know exactly how, but I figured it had something to do with Jamal."

Mitch cut in, a frown on his face. "Are you saying Jamal told Dumas…"

"NO!" Sera looked shocked. "No way! I just think Dumas figured out our relationship and somehow managed to follow Jamal whenever he came to see me."

Robert looked at her speculatively. "So you had a relationship with this Jamal fellow for 3 ½ years? You told me you hadn't been in a close relationship with anyone." He looked curious and slightly betrayed.

Sera sighed. She appreciated Robert's phrasing, since it didn't give a way the fact that she was a virgin, but it also made it difficult to explain to everyone. She mentally shrugged and decided to plow on. She doubted anyone but House would rag on her about it, and she could always threaten to beat him with his cane again.

"I didn't lie to you, Rob. I said hadn't been in an intimate relationship and that I hadn't wanted to get involved with anyone because I didn't know where I'd end up. Both of those things were true. Jamal…well, he was one of my best friends. When I started working at the FBI, he was fresh out of the academy himself. We were the youngest ones on the team, so naturally we bonded. But we were just friends…buddies. I was too involved in that job and my job with the medical examiner's office to really think about relationships. But when my sister was killed, Jamal was there. He…stayed with me, he held my hand, he…he stayed up late when I couldn't…when I couldn't sleep. He held me when I had nightmares."

Lisa handed Sera a tissue. Sera took it and dabbed at her eyes. "I'm sorry – sometimes it seems like it happened a lifetime ago and sometimes it feels like it was yesterday." Lisa patted her hand. "Don't apologize. And if it's too hard to finish…"

Sera shook her head. "No…I need to talk this out. I think it's relevant, somehow. There's something that I'm missing and I just have a feeling that this history between me and Dumas is important in this case."

Sera took a deep breath and continued.

"Well, when I decided to leave, I told Jamal. He tried to talk me out of it, but I was through. I was done with Dumas, the FBI, the lectures, the book tour, the interviews…everything. Do you know how many times I heard, "You're the youngest women to ever….blah, blah, blah"? I had done so much before I even hit 30 that I felt like an old woman. And all because I could get into the psyche of a murderer and figure out what he, or she, was up to. Do you know how incredibly depressing that is? So…I can't really blame running away on Dumas, or my sister. It was…all of it.

When I told him this, Jamal said that he understood. He even helped me leave. When we said goodbye at the train station, he kissed me…a real kiss." Sera glanced at Chase. "Not a golf kiss, though." Ignoring the other confused looks in the room, Sera kept going.

"About 6 months after I arrived in Albuquerque, I got a flower delivery. Not pink roses, but a dozen lilies, hand delivered by Jamal. Now, I didn't tell him where I was going, but he figured it out. He stayed about a week, then left. He never mentioned the kiss, and I didn't bring it up. In fact, he never kissed me again until the night he proposed. Anyway, 1 month after he left, I got another delivery, this time pink roses. The note said, "I'll see you soon". So, I packed up and left the same day.

I traveled all over the country. Jamal didn't always contact me, even though I think he knew where I was, but Dumas would always make contact with me. Always with the pink roses and some note. Finally, after more than 3 years and 6 moves, Jamal found me and told me he was sick of chasing and trying to keep tabs on the woman he loved. This came as a total shock to me. I knew we were friends, and I knew we kissed once, but I didn't realize he felt that way. He took an extended leave and stayed with me for a couple of months. I fell in love with him. We still weren't intimate, but we got to know each other well. When he proposed, it was easy to say yes."

Sera stared bleakly at her folded hands on the table and whispered, "When I said yes, I condemned him…to die."


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: Fox owns House, Md. and all of its characters. Sera and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me!_

**CHAPTER 14**

Mitch, of all people, went over to Sera and turned her chair around so she was facing him. "Look, Serenity, all of us feel responsible for what happened to Jamal. I knew he knew where you were and I should have pushed him to tell me. Dave and I both should have made Jamal wait for us instead of going after Dumas by himself. Jamal knew better than to go without backup…and because of your relationship, he shouldn't have been on the case at all. But the only bad guy here is Winston Dumas. He's the sshole, not you, not me, not Jamal. Stop beating yourself up over this. He died so that you could live, not so that you could hide away and torture yourself."

Sera looked at Mitch for a minute, then leaned over and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. As stern and uptight as Mitch seemed to be, he had always been her rock and her strongest supporter. She knew that he had her back no matter what and she felt surprisingly reassured by his words. Mitch never lied. Ever. And if he said it wasn't her fault, then it wasn't. She pulled back, took his face in her hands, and kissed him gently on the lips, smiling when he blushed slightly. "Thank you, Mitchell Everett Leggit."

Mitch nodded once, still blushing, and got up and went back to his seat. Sera pulled herself back to the table to finish her story. She glanced at Robert to gauge his reaction to everything. She didn't know if he'd be angry about her deception about Jamal or upset because she kissed Mitch. It wasn't remotely a romantic kiss or anything, but men could be wiggy about stuff like that. She felt relieved that he simply smiled and gave her an encouraging nod. She smiled back, glad for his support. The smile faded as she forced herself to remember what happened next.

"After I accepted Jamal's proposal, I decided it was time to come out of hiding. I had been moving around all over the country and I was tired of it. I wanted to go back to work at the medical examiner's office in Suffolk County. I wanted my life back. Well, I wanted my life back without the FBI. I no longer planned on working with them on cases. Dumas kept trying to pull me back in. Every time he contacted me, he would give me a little bit of information about his next victim. He tried to draw me back into his little game, but I wouldn't do it. As soon as I got the flowers with the little note in it, I would grab my suitcase, a box of personal items that I kept, and head out the door. I called Mitch from a payphone on my way out of town and gave him the information on the card. They were usually dead ends, but I think a couple of them turned out to be the real deal."

"You think?" House interrupted. Sera nodded. "I didn't want to know what was going on. I didn't watch TV or listen to the radio or anything for the first month after I moved. I didn't want to know whether or not he had killed again. I didn't want to feel responsible."

"Anyway, I had pretty much washed my hands of the FBI, but I did want my life back. I told Jamal he could tell family and friends about our engagement, but I didn't want to make some big announcement yet. I was enough of a public figure that my return might have made the news, and I wasn't quite ready for that. The day before I was to return to Virginia – the week before my wedding – I came in my apartment and before I could even shut the door, I felt a sharp jab in my neck. I knew instantly what…WHO it was, but I could do nothing. I just remember blackness."

"When I woke up, I think it was two days later. I was on a bed. I was gagged and I had been shackled – both hands, both feet. He had also tied down my body and he had a band around my forehead to keep my head flat from moving. I guess he wanted to prevent me from head-butting him. The head restraint actually worried me more than the others. It implied that he planned on getting close enough to me that he was concerned about being head-butted. I didn't think this boded well for me at all.

He came into the room later on that day, wearing a half mask and holding an intricately carved knife. I didn't need him to tell me that it was the knife he'd used on Faith. The tip had a strange hooked shaped to it and I realized it matched the wounds on Faith's face. He held it so I could see the handle. There were two symbols carved into it. He told me that one was the Chinese symbol for "faith" and the other the symbol for "serenity". He told me that after he "introduced" me to the knife, he would retire it. He then slipped the knife under my shirt and slid it up, cutting my shirt open. He also cut off my bra. The knife was so sharp, he barely had to move it to make it slice through the material. Then…he started to lick me on the parts of my body he had exposed. Licks and little bites. This went on for a while. It seemed like hours, but it was probably only minutes. I didn't say anything the whole time. I refused to give him the pleasure."

Sera's recitation had become monotone and lifeless as she told this part of the story. She kept her eyes on the table as she spoke. "He eventually stopped and just looked at me for a few minutes. Then he did something weird. He pulled my shirt together, covering me back up. He did it carefully, being sure not to touch me. Before he left the room, he apologized to me for his "inappropriate actions".

He never touched me again. He came in and fed me twice a day for three days. On the fourth day, I opened my eyes when I heard a noise at the door. I was shocked when I saw Jamal standing there, his gun drawn. He took one step in then gasped and collapsed on the floor. Dumas came in after him. He wasn't wearing a mask, but I caught a very brief glimpse of him right before he shot me with another dart.

When I woke up again, I have no idea how much time had passed. I heard a loud crashing noise and I jumped off of the bed. I hadn't even realized I wasn't shackled anymore until that moment. I didn't really have time to dwell on that issue, because when I jumped off the bed, I landed on something soft. When I looked down, I saw what was left of my fiancé.

Dumas had cut him up worse than anyone I had ever seen. They hypothesized later that Jamal was killed in a fit of rage because of the violence of the stab wounds. He was practically unrecognizable. I wouldn't have known it was him, except he was wearing this hideous tie I had given him as a gag gift. He wasn't supposed to actually wear it in public…it was the ugliest tie I could find. He turned the joke back on me, though. He not only wore it, but he used to tell people I picked it out for him. He was like that. Impossible to prank, because he could always flip the script on you and make you the butt of the joke."

David and Mitch were nodding in agreement with sad smiles on their faces. Lisa squeezed Sera's hand. Sera took a deep breath. She only had a little bit left to tell and the worst was over.

After his funeral, I ran again. I had my bags in the car and I left. I went to Dover, Delaware and got a job working in a diner at a truck stop. It was actually one of the hardest jobs I ever had, but the tips were good. I got a few regulars and the truck drivers got to know me. They were very protective and made sure none of the other diners got too fresh. I actually enjoyed it, but I really missed medicine.

After about 6 months, I received another pink rose bouquet. This one actually had two dozen roses instead of one dozen, and half of them were red roses. The card simply said, "I'm sorry. Now we're even." I don't know why we were ever _uneven_, since I'd never done anything to him. Perhaps he thought he needed to get revenge on me because I was trying to stop him. I don't know. I left again, but this time I decided to contact Lisa about coming to work at the hospital. I moved here to Princeton, leased my brownstone, and took a few months to get my bearings, then came to the hospital to work as a nurse. I didn't hear from Dumas again until today. It's been nearly a year."

House was about to ask Sera a question, when the phone on desk in the corner started to ring. Robert frowned then got up and looked at the caller ID. He glanced at Eric, his eyes wide. "Foreman, it's coming from your phone."


	15. Chapter 15

Author's note: I am a horrible, terrible person and I have no excuse for my negligence. I am very sorry that I've fallen behind in posting this story. I'm REALLY bad because it's already written. I just need to post. Sigh…forgive me? I'm posting three chapters to sorta make up for it all.

Oh, and House doesn't belong to me, etc…****

**CHAPTER 15**

House jumped up and moved to the phone quicker than anyone had ever seen him move. Sera yelled, "Don't answer it yet!" as she took the recording equipment off of her phone and ran over to the desk phone. The phone rang a third time and House said impatiently, "The hell with this" and pushed the speaker button and growled out, "Hello?" They heard someone's breath hitch and a soft, tremulous voice say, "House?"

House paled. "Cameron?! Where are you? Are you okay?"

They all became quiet as she started to whisper, "House, it's the Pink Rose…"

House cut her off. "Yes, I know, but where are you?"

"I don't….I think it's some kind of abandoned building. There seems to be some stained glass…maybe it's an old church. I'm not sure which direction…

They all heard Allison gasp as a man's voice came over the speakerphone. They heard the clatter as Foreman's cell apparently fell to the floor. The voice was familiar to all of them.

"What are you DOING? Where did you get that phone…I took your phone!! Tell me who you called!!"

The group at PPTH heard Dumas's voice get louder. From the sound of Allison's sobs, he was shaking her as he yelled at her. They heard a thump and Allison cry out in pain. Then Dumas picked up the phone.

"Who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?" Dumas was breathing heavily and obviously trying to regain his composure and calm down. House answered him.

"This is House. What did you do to Cameron? If you hurt her, I WILL destroy you…"

Dumas started laughing. "Oh, Dr. House, I am delighted to finally meet you. Sorry it's under such…unpleasant…circumstances. You have a really beautiful employee here. She's quite lovely…and intelligent, too. Lifting the telephone from her fallen comrade…I actually didn't anticipate that one. I love it when there are brains behind the beauty. Just like our lovely Dr. Blair. Serenity, darling, why aren't you speaking to me? Wombat got your tongue?"

While Dumas chuckled softly at his own joke, Sera hit mute. "He must have been here at the hospital watching us…watching you, House. There's no way he could have known about the wombat thing unless he hung out here."

Sera jumped slightly when Dumas spoke her name sharply. "Serenity! It isn't polite to mute the phone so you can talk about people." Sera hit the button.

"Well, you were boring me with your lame jokes, Winston. Put Allison back on the phone. She's way more fun."

Dumas chuckled again. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? Although I doubt there's anything useful she could tell you. You probably already figured out the church thing. Between you and Dr. House, the brain power is probably stinking up the place. He is, after all, a _genius_." This last bit was just oozing with sarcasm.

Sera hit the mute button again and turned to House. "Ok, he definitely hates you. Find out why." She pushed the button again.

House spoke up. "So, Dumas, what's your beef? You obviously have a problem with me. Why don't you be a man and deal with ME, face to face? Or are you too much of a coward?"

Sera looked at him and muttered, "Well, that's being circumspect!" She didn't bother pressing the mute button. She wanted to amuse Winston to offset the irritation House's comment may have caused. She was slightly relieved to hear him chuckle once more.

"Ah, Serenity, I _have_ missed you. Glad to have you back in the game, my dear. I thought you and I were through after that whole mess with Agent Rodriguez."

Sera saw red. "There is no 'you and I' you son of a …"

"Serenity!!" Carmela cut her off and shook her head warningly at Sera.

"Dr. Ling?" Dumas's voice went up a notch on the last word, the surprise evident in his voice.

Sera frowned and cocked her head to the side, staring at the phone. 'Why would he be surprised that the Professor is here? She and I always work together on his cases.' Sera mused. There was something there that seemed kind of off, but she decided to examine it later.

Carmel spoke to Dumas. "Yes, Winston, I'm here. We are all very concerned about Dr. Cameron. May we speak to her?"

House pushed the mute button and turned on her. "Why the hell are you being polite to this murderer?

Carmela glared right back at him. "Do NOT interfere in what I'm doing. I know this man. We've been working on this case for six years now. You definitely get more flies with honey with this man."

House shot back at her. "Six years? Well, your technique is working amazingly well! Just ask…" House turned to gesture to the whiteboard. "…Mary Hazlett, Jenny Singleton, Cherie Foussaud, Connie Gonzalez…"

Sera shushed House and raised her hand to forestall comments from Carmela. "We don't have time for this crap now! House, you don't like anyone to come around pissing in your territory, so don't muck around in ours! Your interference could hurt Cameron!!" Sera hit the mute button forcefully and called Winston's name.

He responded sulkily, "Well, I was about to hang up. My feelings were hurt because no one seemed to want to talk to me."

Sera cringed at what she was about to do, but she thought about Allison and gritted out, as nicely as she could, "Winston, we really need to speak to Allison. We just want to make sure she's okay."

Winston sighed. "Well, I don't think she's able to talk right now. Apparently, when she…er…tripped a few minutes ago, she hit her head."

Sera took a deep breath to calm herself. House was gripping his cane tightly as if he wanted to jump through the phone and beat Winston to death. "Winston! Go check on Cameron to see if she's okay, or I swear I'll hang up this phone and not talk to you again."

Winston scoffed at her. "You wouldn't do that. You have to save House's precious little girl. The girls always get special treatment, you know."

Sera filed that comment away to examine later, too. "Winston, you've known me for several years now. What's the one thing I've never done to you?"

Winston thought for a moment. "Well, you've never lied to me."

Sera encouraged him. "That's right, I never have. I always do what I say I'm going to do, don't I?"

Winston quietly agreed. Sera pressed home her point. "So, when I say I'm not going to talk to you anymore if you don't check on Allison, you know that I mean it. Go make sure she's breathing okay and that her pulse is strong."

They all heard Winston put the phone down and walk a few steps away. They heard him say out loud, "Well, Dr. Cameron, you appear to be no worse for…oomph!"

House, Robert, Eric, Dave, and Mitch all cringed a bit. Sera saw them and surmised, "The jewels?" They all nodded and Robert said, "Sounded like it."

They all listened anxiously as they heard running and the sound of someone trying to open a locked door. Donna was muttering under her breath, "C'mon, Allie, c'mon…" There was the something that sounded like a chair being smashed. Then more banging on the door and the sound of Allison's breathing and sobbing. Then they all gave a collective gasp as they heard a groan, the sound of heavier footsteps and then Winston's voice, sounding grim and foreboding.

"Now, now, Dr. Cameron, that wasn't very _nice_, now was it?"

The group listened in horror at the unmistakable sound of a knife unsheathing.

"That wasn't nice at ALL!"


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

Eric yelled, "NO!" as Allison screamed. The sound of a knife ripping through skin was clearly identifiable. Winston was yelling, Allison was screaming and sobbing, and the group at PPTH heard the knife slicing again and again.

House was gripping the desk with both hands, his knuckles white and his cane laying on the floor. Eric had Donna in a death grip as she screamed and cried for Allison. Lisa had gone limp and Robert gently eased her to the floor. She was still conscious, but her face was so pale she looked like a ghost. Robert had tears down his face and he made no effort to hide them. Sera was shouting Winston's name into the phone while Mitch was on his cell phone, yelling at someone on the other end about tracing the cell phone signal. Dave was on the computer that he had connected to the desk phone, trying desperately to trace the call.

During that horrible minute, Carmela stared at the phone in horror. Suddenly, she leaned over the phone and yelled, "Winston Alexander Dumas, stop that this INSTANT!!" There was immediate silence in the room and on the other end of the phone, save for Allison's sobs.

Sera wiped the eyes that she didn't even know were streaming and whispered into the speaker, "Allison…Allison, can you hear me? Allie, please…please….ALLISON!"

There were sounds of movement and the phone bumping against something soft. Then, they heard Allison's voice.

"Sera?"

Sera breathed out a sigh of relief. "Allison, it's me. Are you…well, obviously you're not okay…how bad is it? Did he hit anything major? How badly are you bleeding?

There was a pause and Allison replied, "Most of the cuts are superficial, except the first one. That one went through my leg. It missed the femoral, but it's still bleeding heavily. If I can rip this material, I can use my lab coat to…aughh!"

Allison screamed again, causing everyone to tense as they heard the sound of the knife again. They heard Winston's voice, speaking calmly.

"Stop that screaming, you silly twit. Give me your lab coat." They heard the sound of material being ripped and cut. Allison gave Winston a soft "Thank you."

House let out a sound of frustration. "What an IDIOT! He stabs her and practically kills her and she thanks him!"

Donna had had it with Gregory House. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the door, not caring that he was limping and didn't have his cane.

"Out! GET OUT!! You obviously don't care about anything or anyone. That stabbing she just took? She got that because of YOU! Whatever you did to anger that sadistic son of a , ALLISON is the one that's paying for it. And you call her an idiot." Donna raked House up and down with a look of contempt and scorn and all but pushed him into the hall. "We don't need you in here. This room is reserved for people who give a dmn!" With that last scathing remark, Donna slammed the door in House's face.

Sera wanted to applaud, but didn't think it was appropriate. Winston had no such compunction. He clapped and cheered from his side of the phone. Despite the deadly seriousness of the situation, Sera felt herself fighting to keep her mouth from twitching in amusement. All amusement fled when Winston opened his mouth.

"Well said, whoever you are! I think I like you. Who is that?"

Donna glanced at Mitch, who nodded. "My name is Donna. I'm a friend of the woman you just viciously stabbed."

Winston coughed delicately and said, "Well, my dear, men can react rather unpredictably when their manhood receives the blow that I received. But Dr. Cameron has learned her lesson and I doubt she'll be trying that again. Now, it's getting late and we have a big day tomorrow, so I think Dr. Cameron and I need to get some rest. My dear girl, do you have anything you'd like to say before I hang up? Mind you, don't say anything that I'll have to punish you for. You're very special…and I'd hate to have to put a kibosh into my well-laid plans."

They heard some more shuffling noises, then Allison's voice. She was crying again. "House?...House?...I need to speak to House!"

Donna looked guiltily at the phone and was about to lean forward to tell Allison that she'd kicked House out when she heard a quiet voice say behind her, "I'm right here, Cameron."

Everyone turned in surprise as House limped over closer to the phone. He glared at Donna, who was pointedly ignoring him. House turned to the phone. "Are you okay? Has the bleeding stopped?"

Allison sounded impatient. "Yes, yes – I'll be fine. But I just…I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry I told you that I hated you and that I was over you. I wasn't. I'm not." They could all hear Allison crying in earnest now. Sera struggled not to roll her eyes. Instead of trying to give them some sort of hidden message, she was proclaiming her love for a man who obviously didn't want her. House was right. Cameron was an idiot.

Sera felt Donna glaring at her and tried to school her features back to sympathetic. Although she was fairly certain she could prevent Donna from kicking _her_ out of the room, she'd rather not tempt fate.

Allison was still crying and House was trying not to make any remarks that would incite the wrath of Eric's woman. Allison sniffed and wailed, "Oh, Greg! I'm so sorry we never went on our third date!!" House frowned in confusion and said, "We di…" House stopped himself with a startled look. He smiled and continued his statement. "We definitely will get a chance to have that date when we get you outta there, Allison."

Winston took the phone from Allison. "Oh, that was so sweet! I think I'm going to need an insulin injection! Say goodbye to your little love muffin, Dr. House"

House slammed his hand against the desk. "Dmmit, Dumas! Don't take it out on her! Take me!"

There was silence on the other end. Sera held her breath, hoping Dumas hadn't hung up. The longer they kept him on the phone, the more opportunity they had to trace the call. She let out her breath when she heard Winston's voice.

"So, Dr. House – are you offering a trade? Yourself for the lovely Dr. Cameron? How noble! It seems that Donna's little speech got to you after all."

House snorted. "Donna's little speech did nothing but make a lot of noise. If you recall, earlier in this conversation, I told you we should settle this one on one. I believe it was when I mentioned what a coward you are."

Winston responded testily. "Ah, yes, I do remember. But as enjoyable as it would be to deal with you as you deserve, I don't think I'll give you the satisfaction. It would torment you more to know that someone died for your sins, I think. No, you won't do at all as a fair trade. In fact, I can only think of one person who would."

Sera felt a prickle of apprehension go down her spine. She felt Robert move up next to her and take her hand tightly. Winston continued.

"Dr. Blair, we have some unfinished business, don't we? I never got to introduce you to my very special blade. I even had it personalized just for you and you didn't get to experience it."

Sera shot back, "I experienced enough of it." In the background she heard a beep from Dave's computer. When she glanced at him, he gave her a sign to keep Winston talking.

Unfortunately, Winston heard the beep as well. "Hmmm, sounds like I need to get off of the phone. I'll make this really clear, Serenity. You have until 8 am tomorrow morning to decide if you want to finish this waltz that you and I have been dancing for the past six years. I'll call you. If you don't wish to come to me, I'll send Allison back to each of you, bit by little tiny bit. Goodnight!"

There was a click and then a dial tone. Sera had never heard a more ominous noise in her life.


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 17**

House reached over and pushed the speaker button. The room became silent as everyone stared at Sera, who in turn was staring at the now silent phone. After a few moments of tense silence, House clapped his hands together once, causing nearly everyone to jump. "So", he asked almost jovially, "Who's hungry?"

Everyone started fussing at House at once. "Do you have any sensitivity at all?" "What the hell is your problem?" "Are you crazy?" "Really, Dr. House, that was highly inappropriate." "You rotten son of a …" Sera cut them all off.

"I would LOVE something to eat! How about we all adjourn to my house and I'll whip us up a good meal. I have a feeling it's going to be a long night." Sera looked around at everyone staring at her with their mouths hanging open. "What? It's 7:30 and I haven't eaten any dinner. I'm hungry and I think better if my stomach's not growling. I also think better if I'm comfortable and I'm definitely not comfortable here. I need to go home."

Robert looked at her with narrowed eyes. "You're not going." Sera smiled brightly at him. "Why can't I go home?"

Robert frowned at her and repeated, "You are NOT going tomorrow morning."

Sera smiled at him again and hit him gently on his chest. "Oh, Robert, don't be silly. Of course I'm going!"

Once again, there was a cacophony of voices, this time directed at Sera. "Are you crazy?" "Hell, no!" "Don't even think about it!!"

Robert gripped Sera tightly by her upper arms and pulled her closer to him, lifting her up to her tiptoes. "You are NOT going tomorrow! It's insanity!" He punctuated each word with a little shake.

Sera smiled a little at him, patted his cheek and spoke slowly to him, as if she were speaking to a young child. "No, sweetie, insanity is thinking you can tell me what to do." She did a quick movement that removed Robert's hands from her arms and went over to House, putting her arm through his. "So, Dr., do you want to go to my place?" Sera waggled her eyebrows at him.

Robert grabbed her other arm and spun her around. Sera sighed internally.   
She knew what she had to do. She just hoped House wouldn't rag on Robert too much about it.

She put her own force into the spin Robert had her in and plowed into him. When he took a step back for balance, she swept his leg out from under him and used the force of her weight to push him to the ground. Moving too quickly for anyone to see, she struck Robert with a series of movements. She straddled Robert, sitting back on his legs.

Robert was winded, but still got out, "So, that's it? That's what you're going to do to Dumas? Hit him a few times? What happens when he pulls out his knife and attacks you?"

Sera smiled at him calmly. "Go ahead and attack me, then." Robert went to stab her with a pretend knife and found that he couldn't move his arm. Either of his arms. Or his upper body. He could move his legs, but with Sera sitting on his thighs, he couldn't do anything useful with them. He began to panic a bit.

"Sera, can you please release me?" Robert could hear House snickering above him and knew that he would never live this down. Sera smiled sweetly at him. "Would you want me to release Dumas?"

Sera leaned down a bit and propped her head up on her elbows, which were digging into Robert's solar plexus a bit. Robert huffed out a breath, but didn't say anything. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction. Sera spoke to him, although her comments were addressed to everyone in the room.

"As you can see, I CAN take care of myself. The only reason he got me before is because I was unprepared. This time, I know what I'm going into and I'll be ready. Winston is good, but I'm better. Unless he has a gun, which we've never seen any evidence of, there is no way he can get me. I have a better chance of getting out of this alive than Allison Cameron, that's for sure. That'll be wearing off any minute now, by the way."

Robert moved suddenly and flipped Sera over on her back so that he was on top of her. He held her arms over her head and slowly lowered his body so he was lying full length on top of her. Her knees were slightly raised, so he was actually nestled right between her legs. His eyes were dark as he glared at Sera.

"Actually, it wore off while you were monologuing. Are you going to be that careless with that psycho?"

Sera smirked at him, marveling at how incredibly turned on she was by Robert's position and the way his eyes looked like storm clouds when he was angry. "Honey, do you think you are not exactly where I want you to be" she whispered in his ear in a husky voice. She wiggled a bit to make her point. Robert jumped off of her as if he had been zapped with a stun gun and stood up quickly, his face flaming.

House's snickers turned into a full blown laugh as he looked at Chase's bright red face. He limped over to where Sera was still lying on the floor and offered a hand to her to help her up. He was still chuckling up to the point where Sera yanked him off balance and flipped him over her head. She twisted him so that he landed on his good side, although she was fairly certain the landing was incredibly uncomfortable. She quickly sat directly on his stomach and gave a little bounce. After House's "Oof!", she picked up his cane and pressed it against his throat lightly. "Don't you dare tease him about this!"

After he nodded, she got off of him and stuck out her hand to help him up. He looked at her hand for a minute and sneered at her. Robert leaned over and offered his hand to House, who accepted his help and stood up. Sera handed House his cane, trying hard not to laugh. He snatched it from her and went to sit down, pulling out his Vicodin bottle as he went. He glared at Sera.

Sera went over to where he was sitting. Normally, she didn't try to placate the male ego, but she needed House on her side since everyone else thought she was crazy. She leaned over and whispered something in his ear. At first House scowled and leaned slightly away form her. She kept whispering and House's expression changed. At first, he smirked then he blushed slightly. Finally, he smiled a bit and looked at Sera, saying, "Really?" She nodded and he smiled a bit wider. Sera kissed his forehead then turned to everyone else in the room, all of whom were trying to act like they weren't attempting to eavesdrop.

"Let's go to my house so we can eat and strategize. Eric, tell your doctor that you are signing yourself out A.M.A. Donna, your shift ended at 7 pm, right? Come with us. I'm sure you won't relax unless Eric is under your care. Mitch, see what your boys can get me along the lines of top of the line body armor. Even if it hasn't been released yet. And see if Hil has anything cool brewing in that lab of hers."

Donna asked her, "Hil?" Sera grinned. "Yeah. Dr. Hilary Andrews is the chemist in the FBI lab. She comes up with some fairly groovy stuff. She's a real genius. She mothers everyone, though, so we all call her Mum."

Sera then turned to David. "Why couldn't you pick up the cell phone signal? Or at least narrow it down to a tower?"

David shrugged in annoyance. "I have no idea! Dumas always called us on his own phone, which has all sorts of gadgets on it to prevent us from tracing a signal." Sera nodded. "Yes, so does mine. I didn't want the feds after me. But why did you have problems with Eric's?"

Dave shrugged again. "There are devices that can "hide", so to speak, a whole area. He must have one in the house. A stroke of luck for him. Stinks for us, though. I should have realized he had a block when he didn't get off of the phone right away. If I had started the trace earlier, I might have gotten it. The cell signal bounces all over the country to throw off anyone trying to trace it. I had traced back through 22 towers. I only had 3 more to go when he hung up. I should have had the computer on mute...if he hadn't heard the beep…"

Mitch cut him off. "Knock it off. We could "I should have" ourselves to death here or we could try to figure out where Dumas is holding Dr. Cameron. I'd rather not risk sending Sera in if we don't have to."

Sera let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Mitch's statement told her that, if he had no choice, he would let her go to Dumas. She knew that she would have a lot of trouble getting by Mitch if he didn't allow her to go. For some reason, she couldn't even dream of doing to him what she had done to House and Robert. So having his approval, even grudgingly, was the best thing.

Sera walked over to Robert and grabbed his hand. "Give me an hour, then all of you head on over. That should give everyone time to do whatever they need to do. Bring some personal items and changes of clothes if you have them, because I have a feeling we're not getting a lot of sleep tonight." Sera pulled Robert out the door and left a group of bemused people staring after them.

House was the only one who didn't seem concerned. "So", he said, leaning back in his chair and lacing his hands behind his head. "Fifty bucks says she and kid are gonna get down and dirty before we get there."


	18. Chapter 18

House and Co. aren't mine…but, oh, how I wish they were!

**CHAPTER 18**

In the car on the way to her house, Sera called _Martini's_, the Italian restaurant that she ordered from sometimes. She ordered a large variety of food for 9 people and told them that it would be picked up by Lisa Cuddy. Robert glanced at her then back to the road. "I thought you said you were gonna whip us up some food?"

Sera looked at him like he was crazy. "Do I look like Martha Stewart to you? "Whip up some food"? For nine people? Hah! That's why the good Lord created carry-out, my friend!" Sera dialed Lisa next. "Hey, Lis! Stop at _Martini's _on the way over to my place. The order will be ready for pick-up in an hour."

Lisa laughed on her end of the phone. "Yeah, I knew you were full of crap when you said you were fixing us dinner. Is there some particular reason you want me to pick it up? Why can't you get it?"

Sera sighed. "Lisa, _think_ about it." Sera waited a moment for the light bulb to go off in her friend's head. She heard Lisa gasp. "Exactly. So can you pick up the food or what?"

Lisa hesitated. "Peace, are you sure? I know there's a lot going on and you're worried about tomorrow, but that's no reason to rush into things."

Sera snorted. "I'm 34 years old, for crying out loud!" Sera lowered her voice so that Robert couldn't hear her. "Look, I'm sure. He's the one. And I need some time with the hot doc. I _want_ to do this. Now, you remember my alarm code, right? Let yourself and everyone else in. Just buzz the intercom when you get in so I know it's you. We'll be downstairs in the F.O.S." Sera waited for Lisa's agreement then hung up.

Robert looked at Sera. He hadn't been able to catch most of what she said to Lisa, but he did know that he had one hour alone with this beautiful, sexy woman. He got a flashback of Cameron screaming and shook off the image that came to him of Sera being in that same position. He knew that, come tomorrow, there was no way he was letting her go to that madman. He pulled into her street and stopped in front of her house. They sat in the car for a few moments.

Sera's voice broke into his thoughts. "I don't want to think about or talk about Winston Dumas for at least one hour. I need this time, Robert. Okay?"

Robert took her hand and kissed the palm. "Okay. What do you want to do for an hour?" Sera smiled at him. "NOT sit in the car! C'mon. I have something I want to show you."

Sera entered her security code and went inside. After re-setting it, she dumped her jacket on a chair by the door and grabbed Robert's hand, dragging him to a door near the kitchen. She gestured for Robert to go ahead of her and she followed him after locking the door behind her. She heard his "Whoa" as he took in the basement.

Sera had converted the basement into her workout room. In addition to the usual exercise equipment, Sera had a display of knives, swords, and throwing stars on one wall, a free standing weight bag, staffs of different sizes, and a chin up bar in the doorway that led into a short hallway ending in a smaller room. Robert poked his head in there and saw a mini-fridge, a TV, a small dresser, a full-sized bed, and a bathroom complete with shower. The floor in the main room was covered with a mat and there were several speakers hanging from the walls. A giant stereo system was in the corner of the room.

Robert shook his head. "You know, I can just cancel my membership to the gym." Sera smiled and told him, "Look, I want to workout a bit. I'll even show you a few moves…is that cool?" Robert nodded like an eager kid. Sera went into the room and pulled something out of her dresser. She tossed him an old pair of sweatpants.

"I swiped these from Mitch years ago when we used to work out together." Robert looked down at the sweats and asked her, "Do you have a T-shirt or something?"

Sera decided some boldness was in order. She walked over to him and pulled his shirt out of his pants. She slowly began to unbutton his shirt, never breaking eye contact. She noticed that his eyes became stormy when he was turned on, too. After all of the buttons were undone, including the cuffs, she slid her hands inside his shirt, feeling his stomach muscles tighten when her fingers brushed against them.

She was pleasantly surprised to see the fairly well-developed abs on her doctor. Sera slid her hands slowly up his stomach and across his chest. She slowly moved her hands across his shoulders and down his arms, bringing the shirt along for the ride. His soft cotton shirt fell to the floor, leaving Robert's upper body exposed.

Robert was desperately trying not to give in to his baser urges and haul her down to the mat and have his wicked way with her. He was fairly sure she had no idea how strongly she was affecting him.

Sera took a good look. He was lean, but toned…he had a swimmer's build. Not to bulky, but not flabby or flaccid either. He looked yummy and she started feeling those tingles again as she ran her hands back down his chest. She could see his pulse jump and his breathing speed up and smiled to herself. She knew exactly how she was affecting him.

Sera smiled seductively at him and said softly, "I don't think you need a T-shirt." She turned and walked down the hallway into the other room, shutting the door. She leaned against the door, taking several deep breaths to get herself under control. She looked at her hands; they were actually shaking, from desire or fear, she wasn't sure exactly which.

Robert sank down to the mat and put his head down on his knees, which he had pulled up close to his body. "That woman is going to kill me", he muttered softly. He quickly slipped off the rest of his clothes and put on the sweats, glad he had on his moderately sexy black underwear instead of tighty whities. He still felt a bit wound up and looked around for a way to alleviate some of his…er…stress before Sera came back out. He didn't want to scare her or rush her into anything. He thought about the way she prowled around and rubbed over him a minute ago. Maybe he wouldn't scare her…but still. His eyes caught the chin up bar. He tossed his clothes over in a corner and went over to the bar.

Sera walked over to the dresser and pulled out her black sports bra with the purple stripe down the side and the matching bottoms. Purple and black were her favorite color combo and she always felt more confident wearing it. She pulled a black headband on to pull her hair back and looked at herself in the full length mirror.

She liked what she saw. She had been working out in some form nearly every day for the past 5 years, and that, combined with eating healthy (mostly), had made her fit, trim, and strong. She turned slightly and checked out her back side. "Still got back, though", Sera thought smugly. She had been worried when she first started loosing weight that she would lose her curves, but she learned how to keep toned without bulking up or becoming too thin. She didn't think Robert would have anything to complain about when he saw her.

Sera frowned at the eyes looking back at her. She had never truly gotten used to seeing brown look back at her. She always felt like she was betraying her grandmother. The gray eyes seemed to pop up every other generation, and they only showed up in one female in that generation. She had about 60 zillion cousins (actually 27 – her grandmother had 9 children), but she was the only one with gray eyes. Her grandmother told her that the women with gray eyes always went on to do extraordinary things. Sera smiled ruefully as she popped the brown contacts out of her eyes. She definitely had the "extraordinary" thing down pat.

Sera had showered at the hospital after the unfortunate emesis incident with her patient, so she still felt relatively fresh. She spritzed some rose-scented body spray on, laughing softly at herself for spraying on something sweet to go work out. She then took a deep breath and went into the main room.

Sera nearly bumped into Robert as she went down the hall. He was doing chin-ups on the bar. She had to lean against the wall in the hallway because her knees went weak. Mitch's sweatpants were loose on Robert and they hung low on his hips. She could see the waistband of his black briefs peeking above the blue sweats. When he pulled himself up, the muscles on his arms bulged with exertion. Sera had just had her hands all over his body, but nothing prepared her for seeing that body in action. What really made her weak was his back.

She knew that everyone had their favorite body part. She knew that House was a breast man, Mitch and David both liked legs, and Jamal had definitely enjoyed looking at women's butts (much to her increasing irritation as they had gotten closer). Sera had never realized that a muscular, nicely shaped back could make her swoon.

She watched the play of muscles along his back as he pulled himself up and down almost effortlessly. Her heart was beating faster and faster every time she watched the trapezius muscles and lats tense and release. Sera noticed that it was starting to feel extremely hot in the hallway. Maybe she was getting ill? She whispered almost desperately, "Robert."

He heard her and dropped gracefully to the floor. When he turned and saw the way she was leaning weakly against the wall and breathing heavily, he became concerned for a second. Then he saw the desire clearly reflected in her eyes. He walked over to her and put his hand on the back of her head, pulling her to him for a hungry kiss.

She went up in flames. Saw stars, fireworks. Felt sparks, lightning bolts. All of the stupid romance novel clichés she'd always sneered at came back to bite her in the butt, because she felt all of them. The only parts of her that were touching Robert were the back of her head where his hand was and her lips. She felt like she was being devoured and nothing…absolutely nothing had ever felt so amazing. She wanted to grab him to steady herself, but she knew that if she touched him, they wouldn't make it out of the hallway.

Robert was trying to rein himself in, but he felt like his tenuous grasp on control was slipping slowly away. 'If she moans like that one more time, it's over. I'm turning caveman and throwing her over my shoulder and taking her into the bedroom." The thought that she would probably kick his butt from here to kingdom come if he did that cooled his ardor somewhat, and he reluctantly broke off the kiss. He had to step away from her, supporting himself on the wall. Sera leaned against the wall on the other side. They were both breathing heavily. Sera took several deep breaths to get herself together that said to Robert. "C'mon, I want to show you something."

She walked to the middle of the room and gestured for Robert to sit on the floor on the edge of the mat near the stereo. She asked him if he was familiar with T'ai Chi Ch'ü. He nodded. "There was this stress relief T'ai Chi class at the hospital that ran for 6 weeks. The instructor used T'ai Chi as a relaxation technique."

Sera wanted clarification. "Did he or she go over the postures?" Robert nodded again. "She told us something about the Yang tradition, forms, stuff like that. I don't remember much of what she said, but I remember most of the movements. Sometimes I still do them." Sera nodded in approval. "Then what I'm going to do should look familiar to you. Just watch me a bit and then come on over and mirror what I do." Sera glanced at the clock. The restaurant never had the food ready on time, so she probably had a good 45 minutes before everyone arrived. She shrugged. If her plan to seduce him took longer than she thought, the group could just wait upstairs until they were ready. She had locked the door and no one could get into what Lisa referred to as her Fortress of Solitude.

Sera mentally flipped through her CD's that she worked out to, trying to figure out which one would do the job. She smiled and asked Robert to put on the purple CD. "What's it called?" he asked, shuffling through the CD stack. "It's the only purple CD over there."

Robert found it with an "Ah-ha!" and put it in the CD player. The opening strains to "The Beautiful Ones" by Prince started playing. The whole CD was full of Prince slow jams with a couple of other good songs thrown in. She had heard a co-worker say once that no one could set a sexy mood like Prince. She'd soon find out how true that was.

Sera started the T'ai Chi movements as Robert watched her intently. He watched how the light shone on her skin, making it seem to glow. Her muscles were evident in her barely there workout outfit, but they didn't detract in any way from her sexiness. He watched her move, saw her focus on what she was doing. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted anyone in his life. He was worried, though, that she would only make love to him because she thought she might die tomorrow.

That thought got derailed when Sera did a posture that he vaguely remembered being called "the whip" or something like that. All he knew is that she had her arms spread open in front of him and he got a really good view of her breasts. The black top thingy that she was wearing left no room for imagination. He could see the stripes of purple going down the side of her breasts and down her hips. He decided then and there that purple was his new favorite color.

He went back to wondering if he would be doing the right thing if he made love to her tonight like he wanted to. He already had a lot of guilt still embedded in his soul over what happened with him and Allison. His gaze focused again on Sera, who was "waving her hands like clouds" in front of him. Her eyes looked deeply into his and he gave his conscious a kick in the teeth. He knew that if she wanted him tonight, he was hers. He got to his feet and joined her on the mat. Over the speakers, Prince was screaming that he was begging down on his knees because he wanted some beautiful woman. Robert could definitely relate.

Sera watched Robert as he watched her. She knew he wasn't focused on what she was doing. If she was a gambling woman, she would have bet that he was debating whether or not it was morally acceptable to make love to her tonight. 'C'mon, Prince, don't let me down!', she thought. As "The Beautiful Ones" was about to go off, Robert got up and stood behind her. She was startled and looked back at him questioningly. "I thought you were going to mirror me?" Robert smiled his toe-curling smile at her. "I think I'll pick up on it quicker this way."

The CD moved to the next song, "When 2 R in Love". "Perfect", she thought, and began to go through the postures again. Robert followed her movements perfectly, his front pressed up against her back. Sera never realized how stimulating T'ai Chi could be if done this way. It was like an erotic dance between her and the beautiful man behind her. "You're completely ruining my balance", she murmured softly. "Does it bother you?", he asked. "No, not at all", she replied dreamily. She lost herself in the movements and the music and her man. She listened to the words of the song, never actually realizing before how incredibly sexual the song was. She could tell Robert was listening, too. His hands started roaming up and down her body as they moved, still in almost perfect sync. His hand hesitated for a moment then grazed over her breast.

Sera's eyes, which had been half closed, slammed open and she gasped at the heat from that one little touch. All thoughts of Ta's Chi, postures, and "white crane lifting it's wings" fled from her head as she turned in his arms and laced her fingers in his hair. Their kiss was hot and went on until both of them were gasping for air.

Robert put his hands on her sides and lifted her up, letting her wrap her legs around his waist. He looked into her eyes…those beautiful gray eyes that were looking at him with an emotion he couldn't identify. Whatever it was, though, it made him feel very anxious to get her into the back room. But he had to ask her something first.

"Are you sure? I don't want any regrets about anything. If you're not ready…"

Sera put her hands on both sides of his face and kissed him deeply before answering, "I am surer about this than anything else in this world. And my only regret will be if you don't take me to that bedroom and make love to me right now."

Robert smiled, kissed her back, and said, "Yes, ma'am!" as he carried her into the room.


	19. Chapter 19

_Disclaimer – Anything you recognize isn't mine. And the world weeps._

**Author's note – I just want to thank everyone for the reviews that you've left. I'm sorry the updating hasn't been as frequent as it should be, but I've been having THE most incredible bit of bad luck lately. But hopefully, things are looking up! This chapter is kinda short, but it's potent!**

**I tried to post this yesterday, but something was up with the site and I couldn't load the document. Sorry!**

CHAPTER 19

When they got into the bedroom, Robert sat on the bed with Sera's legs still wrapped around his waist. He continued to kiss her as if his life depended on it. He slid his hands through her hair, slipping off her headband. He trailed kisses down the side of her neck, focusing on the point just above her collarbone that made her gasp then moan. He was trying to go slow, but his body seemed to have a mind of its own.

Sera wanted to touch him and drive him as crazy as he was driving her, but she couldn't seem to make her limbs move. With Jamal, she had shared a few kisses, some of which she had previously thought were pretty hot. She realized that they were nothing compared to the heat she felt now. Not that she didn't think Jamal was capable of generating heat, but they just never got to that point in their relationship.

Robert's hands were on Sera's waist and he began to slowly move them up while he nibbled on her neck. His thumbs eased slightly under the bottom band of her sports bra, gently caressing the underside of her breasts. Sera whimpered softly and leaned into his hands. Robert glanced down at her sports bra and saw that it had about 5 hook and eye closures in the front. He sighed a bit and shifted his hands so that he was supporting her weight with his left hand. He then moved his right hand, trailing his finger down the side of her neck and down the center of her chest. His dexterous fingers made short work of the hooks and eyes, causing Sera's eyes to pop open in amazement. She was highly impressed. She had trouble getting the dang thing off using two hands.

Her eyes closed again, this time in embarrassment as Robert slid the bra off of her shoulders, baring her breasts for him to see. She started to bring her arms up to cover herself, but Robert whispered, "Don't." She slowly put her arms down and he looked at her, his blue-green eyes devouring every inch of her that he could see. She looked down, not wanting to meet his eyes, but he wasn't having any of that. He lifted her chin up until she was looking at him. He then kissed her sweetly and whispered against her lips, "You're absolutely perfect."

Robert moved his lips lower and proceeded to give the same attention to her breasts that he had given to her lips. Sera seriously thought she was about to go into v-tach, her heart was beating so fast. Robert's mouth felt electric and she was feeling little shocks all over her body. He was completely supporting her as she leaned back, giving him complete access. She leaned forward and grabbed his hair, kissing him over and over.

Robert slid them back on the bed, rolling her over until she was underneath him. Sera took advantage of his movement to kiss his beautiful chest. She had heard a friend say once that she thought men's nipples could be just as sensitive as women's nipples. She decided to test the theory, and judging by Robert's groan of pleasure, the hypothesis was correct. Robert was in the process of kissing her stomach, causing Sera to alternately moan and giggle, when the phone rang.

Sera's moan turned into one of frustration and she pounded the bed with her fist. She reached over and grabbed the phone off of the desk. She was about to yell, "What?!", but the thought that House or Mitch could be on the other line stopped her.

"Hello?" Sera hoped she sounded reasonably pleasant. Robert looked at her, smirked, and continued his assault on her stomach, although he appeared to have another destination in mind.

"Hey, Peace. Listen, I just wanted to tell you that we may be a bit late. Agent Leggit talked to that Mum person as soon as you left and she said she had something that you may need. She was being helicoptered in, so she should be here shortly. I called the restaurant so that they wouldn't have the food sitting out getting cold. I hope you and Dr. Chase are using the time wisely…maybe working on the case?"

Sera heard the part about being late and something about Mum, but the rest of what Lisa said sounded like buzzing. Robert was slowly easing off her leggings, kissing her legs as they became exposed. Sera shook her head to clear it, in time to hear Lisa's comment about working on the case. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it to bite her lip to prevent a gasp from escaping when Robert nibbled on her left calf.

She tried again. "Robert and I are working out." Sera thought she heard an "Ah-ha!" in the background and realized that Lisa must be on speaker phone. She lifted her feet one at a time so Robert could slip the leggings all the way off. She found it rather hysterical that she was on the phone with her best friend, naked as the day is long, while a sexy Aussie had his way with her. Sera stifled a giggle and asked, "Who was that?"

Lisa responded, "Just House in the background. Did you say you were working out? Is that Prince I hear in the background?"

Sera held the phone away from her mouth as a small moan slipped out when Robert started trailing kisses up her inner thigh. She brought the phone back with trembling hands and willed her voice to sound normal. "Yes, it's Prince. You know I always listen to him when I do T'ai Chi. It relaxes me. Robert has had some T'ai Chi training, thanks to that class you sponsored, so I'm just reviewing…" Sera had to stop since her mind had just gone blank with shock. 'Oh my…no, he isn't….oh!' Sera knew she had to get Lisa off the phone quick because Robert was doing things to her that she had only read about and she didn't think she'd be able to speak normally in a few seconds.

Lisa prompted her, "You're reviewing…?" Sera closed her eyes and counted to 5 before answering. Robert glanced up at her, giving her a wicked look before continuing what he was doing. Sera said, somewhat impatiently, "Yes, Lisa – I'm reviewing the postures. Do you know that instructor you had only taught about 24 postures in the traditional Yang form? In actuality, there are over 100, but Westerners have a tendency to try to shorten them. They have no respect for traditions…"

Lisa cut her off, as Sera knew she would. Lisa had no patience whenever Sera would go off on one of her "no respect for traditions" rants. "Yes, well, you know how we terrible Westerners are. Look, we should all be there in about 40 minutes with food and Mum. I'll let us in – I know how you hate to be interrupted when you're centering your _qi_ or whatever it is that you do."

Sera was about to scream. Her whole body felt as though shockwaves of pleasure were pounding through her and she was having an inane conversation about martial arts. "Don't worry about my _qi_. We'll be up when you get here. I should be able to show him a few more moves and get in some exercise before you arrive. See you later!"

Lisa answered, "See you. And try not to hurt Dr. Chase too much when you throw him all over the floor."

Sera didn't even bother formulating something clever to say. She just said "Bye" in the general vicinity of the mouthpiece and hung up the phone. She threw her head back on her pillow and grabbed handfuls of the bedspread to keep from flying off of the bed. Robert looked up at her, thinking that there was nothing sexier than a woman in the throes of passion. Her face looked flushed and her breath was coming out in little gasps.

Sera felt something building inside her that she had never felt before. She knew, medically, what caused orgasms and what happens in the body when a person has one. None of her many degrees prepared her for the reality of one. She screamed Robert's name as her whole body seemed to implode with heat. She felt as though all of her energy had been drained out of her body. For a second, she thought she would faint from the sheer pleasure of what she felt. Robert came up and situated himself over her.

She looked up at him. After what she had just experienced, she shouldn't be wanting more, but she did. She wanted him…all of him. Now. She pulled him down to her and whispered in his ear, "I've always been the type of girl to jump into the icy water instead of wade out bit by bit." Robert understood what she was saying, but had to still ask, "Are you sure? I can try to ease some of the discomfort, but…"

Sera put her finger over his lips. "Sweetie, it's going to hurt no matter how you do this, so I'd rather just have the pain over with quickly. I want to feel you…completely."

Robert positioned himself and gently kissed her, saying softly, "I know you may think it's too soon to say this, but I am totally falling in love with you." He then made her his…completely.

The pain was like a dash of cold water, causing Sera to cry out and hold him tightly. Robert just held her, not moving, letting her get adjusted to him. She let out her breath slowly, then leaned back a bit, looking at him. "What did you say?"

Robert smiled, then moved slowly, causing a small sigh to escape Sera's lips. "I said, my beautiful Serenity, that I am falling in love with you." He began to show her exactly how much he loved her until both of them shouting each other's names and whispering words of love.


	20. Chapter 20

_Standard disclaimers apply. House isn't mine. Neither is Chase. He will never be mine, no matter how hard I may wish it._

AN - This one is kinda long. Hope you don't mind!!

CHAPTER 20

Sera snuggled closer to Robert and sighed, a happy, dreamy smile on her face. Robert pulled her in, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead. Sera absently drew little circles on his chest, her mind thinking about what she had just experienced. She frowned when Winston Dumas managed to worm his way into her pleasant reflections.

"Thinking about Cameron?", Robert asked her.

"No…well, kinda. I'm thinking about Dumas. I wish I could just lay here with you all night, but Lisa and the crew will be here soon and I want to take a shower before going up."

Robert sighed also and slowly sat up, pulling her up with him. He glanced at her. "You know, we could conserve water and shower together." Sera smiled at his suggestion. "Why, Dr. Chase – you are insatiable!"

As Sera got out of bed and got some towels out of the closet, she said to Robert, "You know House probably had a bet going about whether or not we did this."

She got no response. When she turned from the closet, Robert was sitting on the bed, his mouth an "O" of surprise. "No…you don't think…he wouldn't…"

Sera gave him an "are you kidding?" look. "C'mon, sweetie – this is Gregory House. When have you known him _not_ to bet on something? You've complained to me about how much money he's taken from you over the last couple of years." Sera looked thoughtful as she led the way into the bathroom, followed closely by Robert, who was admiring the view from behind.

"You know, Robbie, we don't have to tell him. I mean, he thinks everyone lies anyway…why disappoint him? Oh, and you don't mind me calling you Robbie, do you? Robert seems too formal." She leaned over to adjust the water before getting in.

"Sweetheart, you can call me whatever you want. I don't know about this lying to House stuff, though. I don't think I can lie to him. He just looks at me with those eyes of his and I start to squirm. Besides, I wouldn't put it past him to have bet that we wouldn't do anything. He probably doesn't think I'm man enough." Robert looked sad as he soaped himself up.

Sera kissed him passionately on his pouty lips, almost causing them to lose their balance in the slippery tub. "Baby, you do NOT ever have to worry about being man enough for me. You are all the man I need. And House can just kiss my butt. See…that's why we have to lie to him. He needs to be taken down a notch or two. He always wins these stupid bets…don't you want to see him lose?"

Robert picked up her shampoo and squirted some in her hair, causing her to squeal lightly. "I would love to see someone else take House's money. But how are we going to convince him that nothing happened?"

Sera closed her eyes as his wonderful fingers massaged her scalp. Who know that getting your hair shampooed could be erotic? She had to replay what he had said before responding. "Well, I already have Lisa convinced that I changed my mind and nothing happened but a work-out. That's why I told her about the T'ai Chi. She was so worried about me rushing into things that she was really quick to believe that we were working out. I think she may be our best hope for convincing House. She knows my workout habits. I usually workout for more than two hours, especially if I'm stressed. The first hour or so is stretching, warm-up, and getting my mind focused. The next hour is a hard workout. Then I usually do some sort of relaxation and cool-down thing. Doing T'ai Chi would be normal for me. The fact that you had it before, at her hospital, reinforces our story."

Robert moved her under the spray to rinse off her hair. "So what exactly is our story?" He put conditioner on her hair, then grabbed the soap so he could wash her down. Sera was so involved in her plotting that she didn't quite realize that he was bathing her. He soaped up his hands and proceeded to rub them over her sleek, wet body.

Sera was quickly losing her train of thought. 'This man has miraculous hands', she thought. In the back of her mind, her shy, introverted self was trying to hide behind something and escape the hands that were moving all over her. But Sera had seen the look of desire in Robert's eyes and it made her feel…powerful. So she told her introverted self to shut up and enjoyed the feelings Robert was invoking.

In between kisses and moans, Sera told Robert what their story was going to be. She thought for a moment that the gig was up when she heard her intercom buzz. She had an intercom box right next to the shower. After some quick readjustments, she put her finger over Robert's lips to indicate silence and pushed the button.

"Lis?"

"Yeah, Peace. We're all here, including Dr. Andrews. I also have the food."

"Good. We'll be up in a bit. I'm finishing up in the shower. Robert says he wants to grab one after I'm done, so we'll be up shortly." Sera lowered her voice a bit. "Quite frankly, I think he wants to soak his sore muscles. Poor guy asked me to show him how to do a couple of throws. He didn't realize that I would demonstrate on him."

Sera smiled with satisfaction when she heard Lisa chuckle. Robert was looking at her in amazement. She was a natural con artist. He wondered if he should be concerned.

Sera signed off with Lisa and turned the intercom off. She quickly rinsed off her hair and rinsed the soap off of her body. Then, she turned the shower off. She turned to Robert, handing him a towel, and said, "Wait 5 minutes then turn the shower on again. Because of the way the pipes run, you can hear this shower running upstairs in the kitchen. I discovered that one evening when Lisa took a shower after we had gone running. It will sound like we took two separate showers. If you want, you can just hop back in if you need to shampoo your hair."

Robert looked slightly embarrassed as he said, "Well…I use a special shampoo and conditioner – that brand that you use dries my hair out."

Sera snickered at him and grabbed a towel to wrap around her own body. "Well, in that case, let me show you something real quick, in case we need to demonstrate."

Sera quickly put on some of her scented lotion and slipped on a short, black tank top and a pair of too big black scrub pants with a drawstring. Robert had some clean undies in his bag, but no casual clothes. Sera shrugged. "Put the sweats back on. You didn't have them on for long." She went over to her dresser and pulled out a large T-shirt.

Robert gawked at her. "I thought you didn't have a T-shirt." Sera grinned. "I never said I didn't have one. I said that I didn't think you needed one. I still don't, but I guess you'd faint if I suggested that you go upstairs without one on."

Robert snorted and pulled the T-shirt on over his head. Then he went back into the bathroom and turned the water back on. He walked back and stood in front of Sera. "Now, show me these moves."

Sera took 10 minutes to show Robert a couple of throws. He couldn't quite get them right, but he knew the basic movements. She thought he would be able to fool House. Now Mitch…well, he was another story.

Right before they went upstairs, Sera turned to Robert. "Now, Robbie – we may be able to fool House and the others, but Mitch isn't gonna buy it for a second."

Robert seemed to deflate. "Then why did I just let you throw me all over the floor for? Why all the planning and corroborating stories?"

Sera raised her eyebrow at him in her best Eric fashion. "You _let _me throw you all over the floor? Humph….we'll address that silly comment later. I told you why you had to hit the mat as often as you did, so quit pouting. No, Mitch won't believe it, but he has to believe that I'm completely happy and wasn't rushed into anything. If he knows that I'm okay, he won't blow the whistle on us. House irritates him, so even though I know he wasn't in on the betting, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind seeing House lose some dough."

Robert looked at her skeptically. "House irritated him? How could you tell? The man is practically an android."

Sera punched him in the arm. "He is not! He has lots of emotions. And once you get to know him, you can tell how he feels. He respects House's intelligence, but people that have no respect for rules, discipline, or order irritate him. House is the antithesis of everything that Mitch stands for. So if I can convince him that you make me insanely happy, he'll play along. Think of him as a protective big brother…"

"Yeah, with a gun!" Robert interrupted

"…who doesn't mind his little sis getting some as long as the fella is worthy", Sera continued as if Robert hadn't spoken. She found her headband under the bead and slipped it on. "You ready for your acting debut, Sir Olivier?"

Robert held out his hand to her and walked towards the stairs. "As ready as I'll ever be, Ms. Hepburn."

At the top of the stairs, Sera asked him, "Wait…Audrey or Katharine?" Robert kissed her on the tip of her nose. "The best qualities of both, luv." Sera grinned at him. "Wow…you're good. Now…game face on. Um…you know, we need innocuous conversation to walk through the door with. Who _do_ you think was better? Audrey or Katharine?"

Everyone turned as Sera and Robert came into the kitchen, arguing good-naturedly:

"You can't count musicals. That's not _really_ acting!"

"What do you mean, it's not really acting? She was amazing in _My Fair Lady_!"

"She wasn't even the one singing. Now, for great acting, nothing tops _Guess Who's Coming To Dinner _and _The Philadelphia Story_."

"What about _Roman Holiday_? _Breakfast at Tiffany's_?"

"Nothing but fluff! She never would have had the chops to pull off something like _The Lion in Winter_."

"Whoa! Time out, you two! What the heck are you arguing about?" Lisa walked over from where she had been putting dishes in the dishwasher. House was smirking at them and David and Eric were looking at them with eager looks. Donna was looking amused as she handed Eric a drink and Mitch was looking mildly disgusted. Sera smiled to herself. She knew now who had bet on them and who hadn't.

"Well, Mr. Critic here says that Katharine Hepburn is apparently the only Hepburn that matters in the acting world and…" Robert cut her off. "I did NOT say that. Audrey was good. But Katharine was 10 times better."

House spoke up. "Yeah, but Audrey was 20 times hotter." Robert smirked at him. "I dunno. Katharine was a looker back in her younger days." House shook his head and nudged David with his elbow. "The boy obviously has no taste in women." House glanced at Sera and did a double take, his mouth dropping open. He always prided himself on being able to ascertain a woman's figure, regardless of whatever formless, shapeless uniform she may be wearing. But he had NO idea Sera was built like she was. He had to stop himself from gawking, since he didn't want to wind up on his butt for the second time that day. He muttered to David out the side of his mouth. "Okay, maybe the boy has taste after all."

Sera noticed Mitch's eyes on her. She smiled at him and went over and gave him a one-armed hug, which immediately put his guard up and caused him to ask suspiciously, "What do you want?" Sera ignored him as she looked around. "Where's Mum?"

Donna answered. "Oh, she went upstairs to use your bathroom and freshen up a bit. She had to leave in a hurry, you know." Sera nodded and went over to the counter to get some food for her and Robert. She gave a mental sigh when she heard House speak. 'Here we go", she thought.

"Soooo…what have you two been up to while you were waiting for us to arrive? I thought I heard something about showering?" House tried to ask his question with an innocent face, but his eyes had a devilish glee to them. He was completely enjoying himself. Sera was about to respond, but surprisingly, Chase stepped up to the plate.

"House, get your mind out of the gutter. Most people normally shower after they finish working out. You should see her workout space downstairs. It's incredible. She has a whole wall full of swords and throwing stars and daggers and those sticks…" Robert sounded as enthusiastic as a child in a toy store. House was thrown off track for a second as his inner child took over.

"Throwing stars? Swords? Seriously? Can you use all of that stuff?" House looked at Sera, his eyes wide. She smiled at him. "Of course. They ain't down there for decoration, you know."

House was torn between wanting to pursue the weapons discussion and wanting to find out if they had done the deed. His greed won out and he got back on topic. "You mean to tell me you've spent the last hour and a half looking around her workout room?"

Sera rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly. We did some T'ai Chi and I tried to teach Robert a few throws…kinda like the ones I used on the two of you?"

House glared at her for bringing up _that_ embarrassing, and painful, moment. He continued, "So, Chase, you're saying you let her throw you all around for over an hour."

Sera made an exaggerated confused face. "What is this 'let' word that people keep using? No one 'let' me do anything!" Sera paused. Sometimes the best defense was an aggressive offense. "House, why are you asking us all of these questions? What _exactly _is it that you want to know? And, for that matter, how is it your business?" Sera put her hands on her hips while she spoke and let her voice drop a few notches. She saw House flinch. 'Good', she thought. House had become a bit to complacent over the past month. It was time he remembered exactly who he was dealing with.

House recovered quickly. "Ah, I see Lil' Hateful is back. Welcome back, we've missed you!" Sera kept looking at him balefully. It was the one she used on him to get him to take more patients in clinic. It didn't seem to have any effect here as he continued to be obnoxious.

"Well, I was just wondering if you two were finding ways to entertain yourselves while the rest of us are working hard to find ways to save poor Dr. Cameron." House managed to tell this lie without breaking eye contact with her. Sera was impressed, although outwardly, she just appeared irritated.

"For your information, you nosy, odious man, all we did was work-out, as in exercise. I needed something to relax me and get me back on focus. And I didn't want to be alone. Robert was able to workout with me because of his previous T'ai Chi experience. He asked me about the throws because he noticed how easy it is for me to take down men a lot heavier and taller than me. He wanted to see how to do it."

House opened his mouth to speak, but Mitch beat him to it. In a low, but somehow forbidding voice, he said to Robert, "Show me."

Sera tried to hide her shock. House was supposed to ask for a demonstration, not Mitch. She wasn't exactly sure what his request meant. Was he NOT going to back her up against House? She suddenly felt somewhat nervous.

Robert shot a quick glance at Sera before turning to Mitch, a confused expression on his face. "Show you what?" Mitch's face remained inscrutable. "Show me the throws Sera taught you."

Robert gulped quietly and said, with his best disarmingly charming smile, "The throws she _tried_ to teach me. I couldn't quite get them."

Mitch looked neither disarmed nor charmed. "Well, show me anyway. Maybe I could help you. Wouldn't want you to disgrace the sweatpants you're wearing." Mitch nodded towards his sweatpants, his gaze focused on the side. Robert looked down. He hadn't noticed before, but the sweats had "FBI" printed down one side of them. He glared at Sera for a second, who shrugged. Sera turned to Mitch.

"Mitch, we don't have time for this. Robert and I need to grab some food so we can try to figure out where Allison is. This demonstration will have to wait…"

Mitch cut her off. "You know good and well that Dumas could go after anyone here. He's not above hurting others to get to his target." He gestured towards Eric, who was being made comfortable on the sofa by Donna. "It wouldn't hurt to make sure your boyfriend here can defend himself."

Sera looked at Mitch closely, trying to figure out what was going on in his head. She could usually read him, but sometimes, when he played it really close to the vest, it was like trying to read a blank wall. She sighed and made a "follow me" gesture towards Robert as she headed into the living room. It had a carpet on the hardwood floors. Not much cushioning for poor Robert, but it was better than nothing.

She and Robert faced off in front of each other. They got into position to begin _san shou_, or two-person sparring. Sera started towards Robert, just as they had briefly practiced. He was supposed to use her momentum against her and cause her to land on the floor. Downstairs, she had been able to prevent that from happening and Robert was the one who wound up on the floor. She anticipated the same result here. So she was utterly surprised when Robert reversed his motion unexpectedly, causing her to become off balance. He caught her arm and swept his foot around, catching her knee and causing her to go down…hard. It lacked finesse and grace, but it was pretty effective.

The room was silent. Sera lay on the ground, gasping and feeling as though the world had just stopped spinning on its axis. He had thrown her. To the ground. Without her consent or cooperation. It just didn't compute. No one had done that to her in years. Years!! She was in a complete state of shock.

She wasn't the only one. David's mouth was hanging open and even Mitch's eyes had widened. But no one was as surprised as Robert. He dropped to his knees next to her. "Are you okay? Oh, my God! I didn't think it would work. Are you hurt? Sera?" Robert was torn between elation over getting it right and horror over the fact that he had just knocked his girlfriend to the floor.

Sera just looked at him. She didn't know whether to throttle him or jump his bones. She had no idea why she found it sexy that he had caught her off guard. No one…no man had gotten the best of her in years. Not even Mitch could take her on. But this untrained man had knocked her on her butt. He was her perfect match.


	21. Chapter 21

_Author's note: I swear I'm not a review whore, but when I see that I only have 22 reviews for 20 chapters, yet over 9,000 hits…well, it makes a girl feel a bit unloved. Please review when you read. I really do appreciate feedback. One of the reasons I stopped posting regularly, besides all of the drama of real life, was that I didn't think anyone was reading. I got a few reviews that convinced me otherwise, but still…_

_To those that have reviewed, THANKS!! It does mean a lot. I don't mean to dismiss your reviews at all. I am sincerely grateful for your comments!_

Disclaimer: House and Co. are the property of Fox and all of those big shot mucky-mucks.

**CHAPTER 21**

Sera held out her hand so that he could help her up. Robert looked at her hand skeptically. He had no idea if he was about to go flying across the room or not. He sighed and stood up with the easy grace Sera admired. He reached down and grabbed her hand. If she annihilated him, it was what he deserved. But she simply allowed him to pull her up off the floor.

Sera rubbed her lower back and behind where she'd landed. She said softly, "Ow!" Considering the fact that everyone had been expecting an explosion, the softly spoken interjection caused everyone to start smiling and, in House's case, snickering. Robert came up to her tentatively and put his arms around her waist, rubbing her back for her. He looked into her wide, gray eyes. "I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, and I promise, I'll never hurt you again."

Sera smiled at him. "Don't apologize. You did it right. In fact, you did it more than right. You improvised and caught me completely off guard. I underestimated you and I guess I needed this reminder that I'm not invincible and it's never a good idea to underestimate your opponent." She paused for a moment and looked at him curiously. "Where on earth did you get the idea to do that move, anyway?"

He grinned at her. "Last Saturday morning, remember? I had a brief flashback to how you got me down. I didn't do the cartwheel thingy, but I remembered how you kicked my leg. I wasn't going to kick you that hard, of course, but I decided at the last minute that if I kicked the back of your knee instead of your thigh, maybe that would do it. But I don't really think I expected it to actually work."

"You shouldn't underestimate yourself either, sweetie." Sera patted him on the cheek. Robert caught her hand and held it tight. He looked at her very seriously for a moment. "Sera, you have to be careful with Dumas. He probably knows how lethal you can be, so he's not going to just let you walk in and beat the stuffing out of him. He'll have something up his sleeve…something unexpected. Don't miscalculate with him, too. Don't take him lightly."

Sera squeezed his hand gently. "So you're going to let me go?" Robert looked down a minute, thinking. He knew that Sera wasn't really asking for his permission to go. She was going whether he wanted her to or not. But she wanted him to let her go without argument and drama. She wanted to know that even though he didn't like the situation, he supported her 100.

Robert leaned his head against hers. Both of them forgot that they were supposed to be convincing everyone that they hadn't been intimate. In fact, they both forgot anyone else was in the room. Robert whispered to her, "I'm scared to death that I'm going to lose you. I don't want you to be hurt…or worse. I can't imagine you…in pain…" Robert's voice broke. He felt tears coming to his eyes, but he didn't care. He thought back to Cameron's screams when that maniac was cutting her. What if that had been Sera? He put his arms around her and held on tight. "Don't go", he whispered in her ear.

Sera was squeezing him just as tightly. "If we don't figure out where Dumas is, I have no choice. Even if I walk away, he's always going to be out there…following me, tormenting me. I need to do this."

Robert took a deep breath then let her go, taking a step back. "Well, let's get to work. We only have about 10 hours to find Dumas." He looked around the room at everyone. "I just want to tell all of you so-called friends that whatever happened between myself and Sera is our business and no one else's. So no more questions, no more sly innuendos. I don't care what bets you have or what money is at stake. It's none of your damn business! And we have more important things to do."

House smirked. "In other words, you struck out. Shoulda known that you weren't man enough to handle a real woman. The only way you can get someone that hot is if she's stoned out of her mind. Although it appears that our nurse Sera does have a soft spot for you. All those years in hiding must have addled her brain or someth…"

House never finished his sentence. Robert grabbed him from where he was leaning on the arm of the sofa and pulled him up by the front of his shirt until they were eye level. From the sofa, Eric gasped and tried to get up to help. He had never seen Robert look so angry, and he thought House may have just pushed the Aussie a bit too far. Donna laid a gentle, but firm hand on his shoulder, holding him back. She shook her head at him and mouthed, "Wait." Eric sat back to see what would happen next.

Robert's voice was low, but it was so quiet in the room that it sounded like a shout. "You mean-spirited, insensitive, unfeeling, cold-hearted son of a btch! Don't you say anything about Sera. She is about to go into a dangerous situation against someone who's killed 15 people, including her sister and her fiancé. She is the bravest person I've ever known. Did you listen to what happened on the phone? Did you hear what that a$$hole did to Cameron? Sera heard it, and she's still willing to go. You only offered to go yourself because you knew he would say no. You're nothing but a coward. You hide behind your sarcasm and wit. Would you be so smug if Stacey had been the one Dumas took? If he had showed up a few months ago, it might _have_ been Stacey. Would you be making your smart-a$$ comments then? What if you had to listen to Stacey being stabbed over and over and over while she screamed? How would you feel? Would you feel anything at all? Are you even capable of feelings?"

Robert let House go and he dropped back on the arm of the sofa and wobbled a bit to catch his balance. Robert leaned over and got right in his face. "If you make one more disparaging comment about Sera or Cameron or anyone else, so help me God, I will kick your crippled a$$."

Robert stepped back as House squared his shoulders and pulled down his shirt, straightening his clothes. House looked at Robert and sneered, "Well, it's about time you grew some!" Robert growled and raised his fist, about to clobber his boss. Sera grabbed his arm. "Robert, no! Don't. Please don't. He's not worth it." Robert gave House one more glare and stormed into the kitchen.

The silence was heavy after Robert left. Sera leaned over and picked up House's cane from where it had fallen. She looked at him. His face looked unreadable, but his eyes…his eyes were filled with pain and self-loathing. She handed him back his cane and said softly, "Dumas could still kill her, you know. And, although I don't think it's likely, he could kill me. Do you even care?"

House snatched his cane from her and got up. He stood with his back to her. "What the hell kind of question is that?" Sera walked over to him and pulled his arm, jerking him around.

"One that I would like an answer to. I deserve at least that. Would. You. CARE?!!

"YES!! Yes, I care!! Is that what you want to hear?! I care!! It's eating me up inside that Cameron is being tortured because of me. She may die and it will be all my fault! You think I don't realize that? Do you think this is fun for me? I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle that psycho with my bare hands while he was hurting Cameron! I want to duct tape you to a chair tomorrow so that he won't have a chance to hurt you, too! YES, I FKING CARE!!! DAMMIT!!!" House threw his cane across the room, smashing into the lamp that was on the end table. It crashed to the floor, shattering into dozens of pieces.

House was breathing hard. Sera was staring at him with tears in her eyes. Robert had come back into the room when the screaming started and was also staring at House in amazement. Lisa looked shocked as well and Eric was obviously stunned. Mitch and David were just staying ready in case things got out of hand.

House took a couple more breaths and said to Sera, "Is that what you wanted to hear, you annoying pain in the butt?"

Sera went over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. He resisted her at first, but after a few moments he gave in and wrapped his long arms around her, holding her tightly. Sera stood on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, "Yeah, that's what I wanted to hear, you big jerk."

Everyone turned at the sound of a voice in the doorway leading to the hall where the stairs were. "Well, who knew Princeton had so much drama?"


	22. Chapter 22

_Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this before each chapter? House and his crew do NOT belong to me!! Sheesh!_

**CHAPTER 22**

Sera turned around and saw a petite blonde woman with sparkling eyes standing in the doorway with a smile on her face. "Mum!" Sera let go of House and ran over to the other woman. She heard House mutter behind her, "I was just starting to enjoy it." She ignored him and threw her arms around Dr. Hilary Andrews, the creative genius of the FBI.

Mum held Sera at arm's length, looking her up and down. "Serenity, have you eaten at _all_ in the past 5 years?"

Sera laughed. "That's the same thing the Professor said…the Professor!! Where is Carmela?" Sera looked around at the group in the living room. House shook his head at her in mock dismay.

"Don't tell me you just now noticed she was gone? What kind of forensic investigator are you, anyway?"

Mitch ignored House's comments and told Sera, "She went…shopping." He sounded utterly confused when he said that. Sera frowned. "Did you say…shopping?"

Donna spoke up. "Well, she was about to get on the plane to France and her bags were there. They would have had to delay the flight to get her bags so she's going to get them later. She just needed to pick up some clothes and personal hygiene items. Dr. Cuddy gave her the address and she said she'd catch a cab here."

Sera nodded thoughtfully, a frown on her face. Her frown turned into a grin as she looked at Mum and gave her another hug. "So, did you bring me any toys?" Mum grinned back. "You betcha, kiddo." Mum frowned at her. "Not that I like the reason you need them. What's this about turning yourself over to Winston Dumas? And how did you talk Mitchell into that?"

"C'mon. I'll introduce you to my sweetie and then we can all go downstairs and try to figure this mess out. If we can find him, and Cameron, I won't have to go anywhere."

Chase had gone back to the kitchen when Sera was hugging House. He wasn't quite so ready to forgive the bstard, so he decided to get something to eat. He was leaning on the counter eating some fettuccini when Sera walked in with an older woman in tow. He finished chewing what was in his mouth.

"Robbie, I'd like you to meet Dr. Hilary Andrews. We all call her Mum. Mum, this is Dr. Robert Chase, an intensivist at PPTH. He's another one of the doctors on House's team."

Mum held out her hand for Robert to shake. "Oh, I'm _so_ sorry to hear that." Mum had been in the car with House on the trip to Sera's house. He'd griped the whole time because he had to leave his motorcycle at the hospital since it had started raining. He had quickly become Mum's least favorite person in the world.

Chase grinned at her, liking her already. He looked at Sera. "Why don't you grab something to eat?" Sera shook her head. "I'm not hungry." She glanced at his fettuccini. "That does look good, though." Chase twirled some noodles onto his fork and held it out to her. She took the bite off of the fork and chewed, giving an appreciative little moan. "That is yummy. I'll get some later. Let me round up the troops so we can get started. You'll need to help 'Ric down the stairs."

With all of the scariness of a marine drill sergeant, Sera got everyone gathered downstairs in the "rumpus room", as Mum called it. She gave everyone a few minutes to look around while she and Robert brought chairs and giant pillows from upstairs and in the back room. She had a recliner in the bedroom that David and Mitch pulled out. House was settling down in it when Donna came over and told him to get up and let Eric have it. House refused, so Donna glanced at Cuddy. Lisa went over and twisted his ear like an unruly schoolboy until he got up. Donna then got Eric settled and reclined comfortably in the chair.

Sera looked at House. "Gregory, when did you and Cameron go on a second date? I only heard gossip about the blackmail date." House knew he was in trouble. She only called him Gregory when he had done something to irritate her. Usually it was just House, or sometimes Gimpy when she was in a good mood. He told her, "We never had a second date."

Sera got up and started pacing. "You idiot! You knew this at the hospital. When she was carrying on about the third date, you were getting ready to say, "We didn't have a second date" but you changed it. Why didn't you mention this? You can't withhold anything relevant, House. None of this Lone Ranger crap. I had no way of knowing you guys never went on a second date. None of us did, really. If Cameron had actually managed to squeeze you for another date, you probably would have made her silence a condition of going out. Only you knew the truth."

House shook his head. "I wasn't sure at first. I initially thought she was counting the monster truck thing as a date, despite my repeated assertions that it wasn't a date. I haven't been able to think of anything significant about a third date." Sera looked at him, her mind whirling. "Maybe…", she began, thinking out loud, "maybe the clue isn't in the third date, but in the first one." Everyone looked at each other than back at her. David voiced what they were all thinking. "What?"

"If you did count the monster truck thing, then the restaurant date was the second. So maybe there is a clue in the monster trucks. But it couldn't be anything she could see. He wouldn't have risked putting her on the phone if she had been able to see exactly where they were. So she must have heard something or smelled something to give her a clue about where she is."

House had been twirling his cane, but he suddenly froze. Sera looked at him. "Spill!" House looked at her. "The monster truck rally was at the East Windsor Fairgrounds in Hightstown. Home of the Airport Speedway. Maybe she heard the cars and recognized the location."

Mitch was on the phone before House was done speaking. Sera heard him telling someone to check churches within a 5 mile radius of the Airport Speedway in Hightstown. House looked at Sera. He actually looked contrite.

"Look, Hateful, I wasn't deliberately withholding anything. Cameron frequently called the monster truck thing a date just to annoy, so I thought maybe she was doing it again…you know…one last time…" House looked away from Sera, who could have sworn she saw something shimmering in his eyes. 'Nah, it must be my imagination. The only time I can imagine House crying is if he ran out of Vicodin or if his porn subscription was cancelled.'

Sera sat down and crossed her legs. She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was after 10 pm. All of the stores were closed by now. Where was the Professor?

Sera closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind. There was something bothering her that was just beyond her reach. She couldn't quite figure it out and it was driving her crazy. Her thoughts drifted back to Carmela. Her mentor had borrowed clothes before on nights like these when they were pulling an all-nighter. And she knew Carmela's traveling habits. She always carried personal items and one change of clothes in her carry-on, along with her medications. So why did she need to go shopping?

Sera shook her head and put it out of her mind. She turned to Mum. "So, Dr. Jekyll, what strange things have you concocted for me? Anything that will turn me invisible or make me impervious to metal?"

Mum smiled. "Actually, now that you mention it…"

Sera smiled back at her friend. "Okay, what have you cooked up?" "Well, Z and I have been working together on a…project, I guess you could call it, and I think we've come up with something revolutionary."

Eric held up his hand. "Okay, it's starting to sound like a combination of James Bond and the Avengers in here. Who is 'Z'?"

Mum, Sera, and Dave laughed. Sera took the question. "Actually, we do call her Z as an homage to 'Q' from James Bond. Dr. Zalamandra is a major tech geek. She comes up with some crazy gadgets. Some of it is a bit on the wacky side, but it always works." Sera turned back to Mum. "So, you brought me some body armor or something. Dumas isn't going to let me wear protective gear, you know. It would make him _very_ happy to make me strip down."

Mum tried to keep from smiling as she reached in her bag. "Well, he definitely won't want to strip you out of this. It's kind of funny that Dr. Foreman mentioned the Avengers. Actually, dear, it was your costume from that Halloween party 6 years ago that inspired this baby."

Sera felt her face heat up. "You didn't."

Mum pulled out a shimmery, black cat suit. "I did." She handed the outfit to Sera, who ran it through her fingers, feeling and pulling the material. She looked at Mum, her eyes wide. "What is this? This isn't Kevlar…is it?"

Mum looked like a kid on Christmas morning. "Well, Z and I took some liberties with something some Japanese scientists came up with. They created these vests that are resistant to piercing with sharp blades. They used a material that's high-density and woven with aramid fibers with silicon carbide particles embedded. The fabric is resistant to bending stress and deformation resistant. It's also a multilayered biaxial weft-knitted fabric that's been impregnated with formaldehyde-resorcinol copolymer latex, especially effective for stopping bullets. Now, what Z and I did to increase the flexibility was to integrate the copolymer with…"

"WHOA!! Some of us don't speak geek, you know!" House yelled suddenly, causing Mum to stop and glare at him. Sera shot House a barely disguised look of relief. She'd been out of the game for a while and forgot the cardinal rule: NEVER ask Mum about her creations. Her eyes had been threatening to cross before House interrupted. David was glaring at her and Mitch just shook his head in amusement. He also glanced at Mum fondly. Sera made a mental note to try to dig info out of Mum later. Trying to pump Mitch for gossip was as fruitless as an apple tree in the Sahara.

Eric, who had been dozing for the last minute, cracked open one eye. "I want to hear about this Halloween costume." Robert grinned and winked at her. "Yeah, fill us in." Sera's face became even redder. "It's nothing. I dressed up as Catwoman for Halloween. That's all."

"That's NOT all", Dave interjected. He was about to speak again, but Sera shot him a look that promised severe retribution if he continued. Dave smirked. "Well, maybe now isn't the right time to talk about it. But I will never forget that whip." Sera rolled her eyes and ignored the fact that House, Eric, and Robbie were gaping at her in astonishment. She sighed softly at what she was about to do, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

She reached over and picked up the cat suit. "So, Mum - this will resist those poisonous darts?" Mum nodded. "It is pierce-resistant, but not pierce-proof. If he gets close enough and shoots it with enough force, it could get through. However, I doubt you'd give him the opportunity to get that close. In order to make the fabric more flexible and less bulky, we had to…" Mum glanced around the room at the barely audible groans she heard. "Ok, fine – the quick and dirty version. We had to fiddle with the bulletproof thingy to make the material thinner, so now, unfortunately, it won't protect you from a gun."

"He's never used a gun before. Normally I don't make assumptions, but I don't really have a choice here. If the agents in the field don't find the church, I'll have to go in."

Mum placed her hand on Sera's arm. "There is one good thing. Even if the dart gets through the suit, the material slows it down. It may only scratch you…might not even break the skin."

Eric spoke up. "Even a small scratch would be enough to render her unconscious. I don't see how we can avoid this topic any longer. This pierce-resistant suit is great, but it's not 100 reliable. And you still have parts of your body uncovered. He got me on my neck, right below my jaw. I doubt that suit covers that area. You can apparently do all of these awesome things. You're bad, there's no denying that. But if you're unconscious, it doesn't matter what weapons you can use and what karate moves you know. If you're unconscious, you're completely at his mercy."

Sera shook her head. "It won't be a problem, 'Ric. This suit gives me the edge I need, but even without it, it won't be a problem. I'll be ready."

Robert narrowed his eyes at her. "HOW will you be okay?" He tilted his head, looking at her closely. "What aren't you telling us? Don't play the hypocrite – don't keep anything from us."

Sera tried to deny it. "Robbie, I'm not…" She leaned back in shock when he shouted, "You are!!" Robert took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked at her almost desperately. "You're hiding something. Tell us. Tell me. Give me a reason _not_ to slip you some thiopental and keep you in a coma for the next week. 'Cuz right now, I'm thinking about it. I have never felt comfortable about this and the more I hear, the worse it gets. Tell us what you're hiding."

Sera got up and paced around the room. She went over and picked up her _bo_, twirling it around her fingers as she walked around. She _really_ didn't want to tell Robert what she'd been doing for the past 18 months. Actually, all of the doctors in the room were going to blast her. "_Might as well get this over with"_, she thought.

She stopped twirling and turned to face everyone, leaning on the _bo_. "There are several antidotes to curare. I plan on using one of them." Mitch said quietly, "We know about the antidotes, but you can't inject yourself with anything if you're not sentient." Sera shook her head. "I'm not talking about edrophonium. There was another antidote developed in the 19th century. Iodine, potassium, and water in the right balance will diminish the effects."

Donna spoke up. "You still can't take it if you're unconscious." House was looking at Sera, a frown forming on his face. Sera knew she was about to be busted.

"Please tell me you haven't been doing what I think you've been doing." Sera eyed him coolly and said, "I've been monitoring it very carefully. I made sure my levels never went above 7 and…"

"What!" Eric and Lisa exploded at the same time. They both talked over at each other in their eagerness to yell at Sera. She sat down, sighing. This double team scolding was going to take a while. She was grateful when David, after a nod from Mitch, stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled piercingly. Eric and Lisa stopped immediately.

Mitch spoke calmly. "What exactly did you do?" Sera didn't meet his eyes when she spoke. "I've been giving myself potassium injections and iodine supplements - screwing around with my electrolytes and making myself hyperkalemic. Basically, if your levels get above 7 mEq, you're talking severe hyperkalemia."

Dave looked confused. "So…too much potassium is bad, right?" Robert answered him quietly, looking at Sera as he talked. "Too much potassium can lead to a cardiac arrhythmia. And it can be asymptomatic, so you don't always get a warning…not before it's too late, anyway. It has a 67 mortality rate if not treated immediately." Robert looked into Sera's eyes as he said, "Too much potassium can lead to sudden death."


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer – House is the property of David Shore and the rest, yadda, yadda, yadda_

**AN – Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. If you continue to like this story, I'll post the sequel, which is called "Serenity's Light". It's also completed, so barring any extreme laziness, I should be able to post pretty regularly. Also, I'm going to start putting the last paragraph from the previous chapter in the beginning to try to somewhat maintain the flow. **

_Dave looked confused. "So…too much potassium is bad, right?" Robert answered him quietly, looking at Sera as he talked. "Too much potassium can lead to a cardiac arrhythmia. And it can be asymptomatic, so you don't always get a warning…not before it's too late, anyway. It has a 67 mortality rate if not treated immediately." Robert looked into Sera's eyes as he said, "Too much potassium can lead to sudden death."_

**CHAPTER 23**

After Robert's statement, there was an oppressive silence in the room. Lisa looked at Sera. "Why? Why would you risk yourself like this? You know exactly how dangerous this is…why would you subject yourself…your HEART…to this kind of abuse?

Sera started pacing again, twirling the _bo_. "I knew. I knew that eventually he would catch up to me. I knew that it would come to a final showdown of sorts. I just wanted to make sure I was ready."

Sera looked around at all of the eyes looking at her in sad condemnation. She tossed the staff against the wall in frustration. "Oh, for heaven's sake! I was extremely careful. A slowly rising potassium level can be better tolerated than a quickly rising one. I check my electrolyte levels every other day…I have equipment upstairs. I've been doing this gradually over the past year and a half. I'm also very careful when I expose myself to the curare…"

"WHAT!" Several voices interrupted her at once. Sera rolled her eyes. "Well, how did you think I would test it? It would really suck to do all this only to find out at the critical moment that it didn't work."

House let out a disbelieving chuckle. "Let me get this straight. You…a doctor…have been deliberately screwing with a critical electrolyte, the one that controls the heart, AND exposing yourself to a potentially lethal poison just to see if you can handle it? Why don't you just suck down some iocaine powder while you're at it?"

Sera blinked for a second before getting the reference and rolling her eyes. "Look, House, I know exactly how much curare is lethal and I know how much is on the darts that Dumas uses. I can tolerate two before I start to get weak. Three will knock me out. He doesn't know this, so I'll have some element of surprise when I don't go down after the first dart. I only need 5 seconds to incapacitate him. With this suit that Mum brought, I should have all the time I need."

Mitch looked at her. "You don't expect them to find the church, do you?" Sera shrugged. "I don't expect them to find Winston Dumas. It's never been this easy before, and I don't believe in luck." Mitch looked at her for another minute. His lips tightened. "Then maybe we'd better see exactly what that suit can do."

Sera nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking. I need you to do something for me while I change, though." Sera picked up the "cat suit" and pulled Mitch into the other room with her. When she made her request, Mitch's eyebrows went up. Sera held up her hand to ward off protests. "Mitch, I've never asked you to do anything like this without a good reason. And the only reason I can give you is that my gut is telling me something is wrong. I just need you to check that out for me. Please."

Mitch nodded and pulled out his phone as he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Sera looked down at the piece of material in her hands. It seemed much smaller than it had when Mum pulled it out of the bag. Sera sighed. She wasn't extremely eager to prance around in this skintight thing. It was even worse than that damnable Catwoman outfit. At least that one had a mask!

Mitch followed Robert upstairs so they could bring down the ottoman for House. His leg was bothering him more than it had in recent months. The ottoman upstairs was big, and awkward for one person to negotiate down the steps. Robert bent over to grab his end of the ottoman. Mitch didn't bend over, but stood looking at Robert pensively.

Robert felt a bit nervous from the older man's scrutiny. He asked him, "Is this the part where you tell me that if I hurt her, you'll hunt me down and kill me?"

Mitch snorted. "She can do that to you a lot more effectively than I can. I would just shoot you. She could make you cry." Mitch paused for a heartbeat, then said, "Just kidding."

Robert wasn't reassured, especially since the agent never cracked a smile. "Look, Agent Leggit, I… I really care about Sera. She's the first person to actually see who I really am, not the person I try to show people. And she likes who I really am. I've never met anyone like her. I am totally falling in love with her and the thought that I might lose her is incomprehensible."

Mitch studied the young doctor for a few more seconds and nodded. "She's never felt the passion for anyone or anything that she feels for you." Robert frowned. "But she was engaged…"

Mitch shook his head. "Yeah, she was engaged, but she wasn't in love with Jamal. She thought she was. She loved him, but it was the love of friendship. She could have married him and been perfectly content. But she would have missed out because Jamal didn't make her feel as alive as she acts with you. You make her let her guard down. You cause her to open up. She knocked another man on his a$$ just so he couldn't humiliate you. She gave you herself, both physically and emotionally…the only man she's ever done that with."

Mitch held up his hand when it appeared that Robert was going to defend his actions. "Look, Sera's a grown woman. If she decides to have a lover, it's not really my business. In fact, I don't want to know about it. But neither of you fooled me with that little T'ai Chi story. The way you look at her now is different than the way you looked at her 2 hours ago. You look at her possessively now. She does the same to you."

Mitch looked a bit uncomfortable. Robert wouldn't know it, but Mitch never talked this much, especially about emotional stuff. He quickly spoke again, so he could finish what he had to say and, hopefully, never have to say it again. "Dr. Chase, I love Sera almost like a daughter. And I want to see her happy. I haven't seen that enough. She deserves to be happy. And if you keep on making her happy, I'll have no beef with you." Mitch held out his hand.

Robert took his hand and the two men shook. When Robert tried to let go, Mitch tightened his grip…painfully. "But just so you know, Dr. Chase…if you hurt her, this country won't be a big enough place for you to hide." Mitch gave his hand one last good squeeze then let go. Robert shook his hand and flexed it to restore circulation. He glared at Mitch for a second, then grinned a bit, still shaking his hand. He moved over to the ottoman to grab his end. As they lifted it together, he said to Mitch, "Call me Rob."

As soon as Robert and Mitch got the ottoman downstairs, the doorbell rang. Robert went to get it after getting a warning from Mitch to check the video monitor before opening the door. Robert rolled his eyes and went off muttering to himself about not being a _complete_ moron. Mitch hollered after him, "That remains to be seen!"

House was looking at him speculatively as the agent rolled the ottoman in place in front of House's chair. The doctor commented, "You like him." Mitch shrugged. "What's not to like?" House smirked. "Oh, I don't know…the fact that he's doing the horizontal mambo with Sera? The fact that he's a spineless little weasel? The fact that he'd sell out his own mother to save his own butt?"

Mitch shoved the ottoman under House's raised leg with a thump. He watched House use both hands to lift the other leg up. "Well, just the fact that he jacked you up and told you off was reason enough for me to like him."

Donna chimed in. "You _are_ pretty hard on him." Eric put his two cents in, even though the pain was getting bad and making it increasingly hard for him to focus.

"Why are you such a bstard towards him? You acted like this even before the Vogler thing. You never have anything good to say to him. He actually figures out quite a few of our diagnoses and you never give him any credit. Even when he comes up with something creative, you put him down. You treat him the worst of the three of us. No wonder he betrayed you. I mean, would it kill you to say something nice?"

"He treats Dr. Chase the way his father treated him." A woman's voice spoke from the doorway. Everyone looked over to see Carmela walk into the room. House scowled at her. "Nobody asked for your input", he growled. Carmela ignored him and kept talking.

"No matter what you did, it wasn't good enough. You tried. You tried to excel at everything you did and it still wasn't enough. Your father has probably never said the words, "I'm proud of you", has he? Have you ever told Dr. Chase "Well done!"? Have you ever treated him with anything except scorn?" Carmela shook her head. "So sad. Like father, like son."

House was gripping the arms of his chair tightly. "You had no right…I told you those things in confidence! You have NO respect for…" Carmela cut him off with a laugh. "No respect? You mean, like the respect that you show others?" Carmela rubbed her chin thoughtfully as if something just occurred to her. "Hmmm…showing disrespect for others…yet another trait that you and John share."

"I am NOTHING like my father", House gritted out. Carmela bent over and said softly, "Yeah? Prove it." House practically snarled. "I don't have to prove anything to you." They both looked towards the steps as they heard footsteps bounding down. Carmela smirked. "All of that youthful energy and vigor." She leaned closer to House and whispered, "Don't prove it to me. Prove it to him. Or you're no better than your father."

Robert came into the room, slightly out of breath. "I put all of your bags in the second bedroom and…" He trailed off. There was a weird tension in the room and no one was meeting anyone else's eyes. He looked at House and saw that the older man looked a bit flushed. Robert went over to him. "House, are you okay? You look a bit flushed. Is the pain that bad?" Robert knelt by the chair, all of his earlier enmity towards his boss forgotten. "Sera has a heating pad upstairs. I can get it if you want."

House looked at the young man in front of him and felt the unfamiliar feeling of shame wash over him. He glared at Carmela, blaming her for these unwanted feelings. He turned to Robert to say something snarky and was mildly shocked when what came out was actually pleasant. "No, but thanks for offering." Robert's mouth dropped open in shock and House scowled at him. "Well, don't just sit there with your mouth hanging open like a fish out of water. If you want to make yourself useful, get me something to drink. Preferably a Scotch."

Robert snorted as he got up. "Like I'm gonna help you destroy your liver." He went up the stairs two at a time and came back down with some bottles of soda in his arms. He handed them out to everyone and was about to open his when he heard Sera say, "I'm coming out!"


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimers annoy me. House, M.D. is the creation of David Shore and friends and they just won't give him to me!

_Robert … went up the stairs two at a time and came back down with some bottles of soda in his arms. He handed them out to everyone and was about to open his when he heard Sera say, "I'm coming out!"_

_**CHAPTER 24**_

Sera had actually been ready for ten minutes, but she couldn't work up the courage to walk out the door. She actually felt more naked in the cat suit than she did without any clothes. The black material was surprisingly soft against her skin, although the outside surface of it was tough. It has a sheen to it that made it shimmer in the light. The suit covered her from head to toe. It was long-sleeved and even had a mock turtleneck. Yet, because it was skin tight and emphasized _every _curve, she still felt like covering herself.

Her hair had dried to slightly fluffy curls from her shower, which just didn't mesh with the Emma Peel image she was projecting, so she wet her hair and slicked it back. Although she knew that her high heeled black boots went perfectly with the outfit, she had never learned the skill of performing martial arts in stiletto heels, so she remained barefoot. She had moved her winter clothes downstairs when the weather became warmer and she dug around in her closet until she found a sparkly 5-inch belt that usually went with a holiday sweater she owned. She wrapped the belt around her waist, where it draped, perfectly setting off the shimmers in the outfit.

She ran her hands down her body as she looked in the mirror. She looked good, but unfortunately, every eye in the room was going to be focused on her when she walked out there. Robert she could handle, but Dave? Eric? Oh, God! House?! She could only imagine what _that_ horndog would say! But that wasn't really what was giving her the willies. She realized that Winston probably had some lustful feelings for her ('Probably? Try definitely!', her subconscious jeered at her) and if she showed up wearing this, it might be like waving a red cape in front of a bull. She squared her shoulders and tossed her head. 'Well, I'll just have to make sure he never gets a chance to act on his sick little feelings!', she decided. She called, "I'm coming out!" and walked out the door.

She stepped into the room and immediately felt all eyes on her. She saw that the Professor had arrived and gave her a little smile. She refused to meet anyone's eyes as she searched the room for Robert. His back was to her and he was putting a can opener down on the table against the wall. He turned around and immediately his eyes widened. His skin went pale and he dropped his soda, causing the glass to shatter and soda to spill all over her floor. He didn't even seem to notice the mess as he stared at her.

Robert couldn't believe his eyes. He had seen Sera naked, for crying out loud, and he didn't know she was built like that. He looked around the room at everyone else. Donna was frowning at Eric, whose eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging open. House had leaned forward in his chair with a gleam in his eye, unaware that Cuddy had narrowed her eyes at him. The Professor and Mum looked mildly amused. David was practically leering at her and Mitch…Mitch was looking at him with one eyebrow up. He looked expectant, as if he was waiting for Robert to do something. He looked back at Sera and noticed that she was chewing on her lip nervously, and her dark skin appeared flushed as she looked at the floor.

Robert went over to her and stood in front of her, effectively shielding her from the room. He lifted her chin so that she was looking at him. Her eyes were wide and she seemed extremely uncomfortable. He kissed her nose and said quietly, "You are among friends here. I know some of them are acting like complete morons, but you _are_ safe here. And, I might add, you are the most amazingly sexy and brave woman I've ever seen in my life. I'm so very honored and blessed that you've allowed me into your life." He kissed her gently on her lips. He swore he heard a couple of feminine sighs in the background, but he couldn't tell who it was.

When he pulled away from her, her eyes slowly fluttered back open. Robert was pleased to see that she had that spark back in her eyes. She smiled at him…that mischievous smile that he loved. "Well, I guess I'd better test this baby out to make sure I can move freely in it. Is Dave still giving me that lecherous look?"

Robert glanced over his shoulder and turned back to Sera. "Yep. Want me to go defend your honor?" Sera smiled at him and patted his cheek. "Nah. I got this covered." She took a deep breath and stepped around him. "Oh, Daaavvveee…"

What followed was 20 minutes of Agent David Dukovsky getting his butt kicked. Back in her FBI days, Sera usually sparred with either Mitch or David. If she was practicing with weapons, she worked with Mitch because Dave wouldn't know a _bo_ from a _sai_. But for hand to hand combat, she enjoyed working with Dave because she never felt guilty throwing him all over the mat. And he was good enough that she didn't feel like a bully. Of course, she had been actively training for the past five years and Dave hadn't. So…it wasn't pretty.

"Augh! Do you have to slam me to the mat? Isn't merely throwing me enough?", Dave groused from his position lying on the floor. Sera ignored him and jumped up, ready to stomp him while he was whining on the floor. Dave said, "Uh, oh!" and quickly rolled out of the way, as she knew he would. He quickly got to his feet, just in time to catch a spinning kick to the gut. He ducked the next kick and dropped down, his leg shooting out and sweeping Sera's, sending her to the floor. She quickly did a backwards roll to her feet and blocked his kick.

Robert watched them spar, his fists clenching and unclenching as he looked on. He almost jumped in at one point, when David had Sera in some type of headlock, but a cane shot in front of him, blocking his way. He looked down at House, who shook his finger at Robert and said, "Ah, ah, ah! You don't want to do that." Mitch spoke up. "Dr. House is right. Sera knows what she's doing. She's going kinda easy on him. If he gets the upper hand, it's because she's letting him. Sometimes, in sparring, you need to let the opponent get you in a tight spot so that you can learn to get out of it. Trust me, if you go charging in there, you'll be more of a distraction than a help."

So Robert watched the woman he loved toss and be tossed all over the mat. He could tell she was enjoying herself. He was truly amazed at how she moved. He had seen her in action briefly, but that was nothing compared to what she was doing now. She was so quick; she was like a blur at times. And Dave, who was a pretty big guy at 6'3" and about 225 lbs, was impressive as well. Robert started to feel a little bit better about Sera's chances with Dumas. Until he saw Mitch take off his shirt and go over to the wall and pick out two of the throwing knives.

"Whoa!! What the hell are you going to do with those?" Robert grabbed the other man's arm. Mitch looked at his arm where Robert was gripping him and raised an eyebrow at him until the younger man let go. "Well, I'm going to try to stab your girlfriend, _Rob_." Robert shook his head. "No, I don't think so." Mitch sighed. Although he could easily get around the man, he didn't think Sera would appreciate it. So he took a moment to explain.

"Would you rather find out that the suit works now, or later when she's in front of Dumas?" Robert thought for a moment. He looked Mitch in the eye. "You've been trained with weapons like she has?" Mitch gave a humorless smile. "Well, my knife training came from being in a gang in my youth. The rest of my training, though, was more formal." Robert was dying to ask more questions, but knew there was no time for his curiosity. So he just said, "Be careful." Mitch nodded once and went over to the mat.

Sera felt rather than heard the presence behind her. She quickly did an evasive cartwheel to the side and whirled to face her new opponent. She was absolutely shocked to see that Mitch was holding a knife. "Mitch, what the hell…?!" she yelled at him. Mitch shrugged. "Are you going to yell at Winston?" He swiped at her again with one of the knives. She evaded with a back flip. Mitch looked impressed. "That's new." Sera grinned. "Yeah, it took me a while to get it right. Lots of headaches! I can only do one, though. I need to learn to do several in a row." She dodge out of the way as he arced the blade in her direction and spun and landed a kick on his back, which sent him off balance stumbling across the mat.

Sera ran over to the wall to grab a weapon. Mitch, who had recovered, stopped her. "No! Dumas is not going to let you waltz in there with a weapon. You're probably going to have to fight him empty handed." Sera put the _sai_ back on the wall and cautioned Mitch, "I'm not going easy on you, Mitchell. You're armed and I'm not. I'll let you land one, just to make sure this suit can take it, but all bets are off after that. I can't promise that I won't hurt you." Mitch simply smiled that enigmatic smile at her and replied, "You won't hurt me."

Robert found himself once again standing helplessly on the sidelines while Sera dodged and evaded Mitch's strikes with his knives. At one point, Mitch threw one of the daggers and it hit Sera right in the stomach. Everyone in the room gasped, even House. Sera's hands grabbed the spot, her eyes wide. Even Mitch looked a bit worried for a second. Then, Sera moved her hand and the knife fell to the ground. She rubbed her stomach in wonder. "It didn't go through!" she panted. "I felt like I'd been struck in the gut, but it didn't pierce my skin! Mum, you and Z are amazi…whoa!"

She quickly dropped to the floor and did a scissor kick, catching Mitch in the side and giving her a chance to jump to her feet. She glared at the older man. Mitch looked at her sternly. "Don't let anything distract you! You can compliment Hilary later!" Sera took a second to say snidely, "Oh, so it's 'Hilary' now, is it?". A few seconds later, she was wishing she'd kept her mouth shut, because Mitch was coming at her twice as fast. It was all she could do to avoid his attack. She could barely mount any offense at all. Finally, she saw an opening. She spun and struck a blow to Mitch's outer thigh, similar to what she did to Robert in her kitchen. He dropped like a stone. She quickly struck several spots on his body, disabling his arms. She straddled him, took the knives out of his hand, twirled them both, and stabbed downward.

She heard more gasps and a couple of shouts. She stopped the blades about a centimeter above Mitch's heart. They stared into each other's eyes, breathing hard. Mitch glanced down at the knives then back up to her. He surprised her by grinning at her. "Dmn, you've gotten fast. You were still holding back a bit, weren't you?" She grinned back, leaned over, and kissed his nose, knowing he couldn't do anything about it. She ignored his glare and answered him. "Yeah, well…for some reason, I can't bear the idea of hurting you."

Dave called from the side of the room, where Lisa was putting ice on his eye, "You sure as hell didn't have any trouble hurting me!" Sera shout back, "That's because I actually _like _him!" In reality, Sera loved Dave to death, but he was a royal pain in the tuckus. She got up and offered a hand to Mitch, who was slowly moving his arms back and forth. He got up, holding his thigh and wincing a bit. Mum came over to him, offering him her shoulder to lean on as he made his way over to a chair.

Robert came over to Sera, who was twirling the daggers in her hand. She stopped when he got closer. She was kind of wary. He hadn't really seen the extent of what she could do and she wasn't sure how he was going to react. He looked at her in awe. "Wow! That was amazing. You know, you're kind of scary!" Sera looked down, disappointed. She said quietly, "Most men are intimidated by what I can do." Robert slipped his arms around her. "I didn't say I was intimidated. I just said you were a bit scary. I know now that I definitely don't want to get in your bad side." He leaned closer and nuzzled her ear, whispering, "Actually, I thought it was kind of hot, watching you move like that. It made me want to…" Robert proceeded to tell her exactly what he wanted to do with her.

Mitch looked over at the couple, noticing the way Sera was giggling and particularly the way her skin was flushing over whatever the Aussie was whispering to her. He had been worried that Dr. Chase…_Rob_…would back off from her after seeing what she could do. But the man had proven tougher than he thought. Probably tougher than anyone thought. It seems that Rob's co-workers, particularly Dr. House, underestimated him. He smiled to himself. After Rob knocked Sera on her butt and especially after his blow up at House, Mitch doubted that too many people were going to underestimate the young doctor again.


	25. Chapter 25

_House, M.D. is the property of David Shore and his peeps._

**CHAPTER 25**

As Sera and Mitch got their breath back, Mitch's phone rang. He flipped it open and answered, "Leggit." He paused for a minute and said, "And?" After listening to the response on the other end, he held the phone slightly away from his mouth and cursed vehemently. He got back onto the phone and said, "Get the team in there, Marcus. Go over everything with a fine tooth comb. I want some answers!" Mitch snapped the phone shut with another curse. He turned to look at the roomful of people staring at him expectantly.

"They found the church…" Mitch held up his hand to stave off the questions that started flying at him. "They found the church but it was empty. There was no sign of Dumas or Dr. Cameron. All they've found, so far, is one pink rose in the middle of the floor and a note that Agent Marcus is going to scan and send to you." He nodded towards Dave, who had his computer out.

"Dr. Cameron wasn't there?!" Carmela sounded shocked. Sera looked at her. "Why does that shock you, Professor? I've been the only victim he's left behind." Carmela hesitated for a second, then responded. "Well, he's never switched locations before. No reason to think he wouldn't have left Dr. Cameron behind, just like he did with you."

Sera knew that the explanation made sense, but for some reason, she wasn't convinced. She looked up and saw Mitch frowning in the Professor's direction. He turned and caught her eye for a moment before turning away.

Everyone in the group looked utterly defeated. House was leaning forward in his chair, gripping his cane tightly. Lisa had walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. Chase was sitting on the floor, knees raised and his head bent. Sera thought he might be praying. Eric was clenching and unclenching his jaw while stroking Donna's hair. She was kneeling beside the recliner, her head in his lap. Sera watched as tears trickled down her face and onto Eric's legs.

Carmela excused herself to go upstairs to get her medicine from her carry-on bag. Sera caught Mitch's eyes again and he nodded slightly. She waited a few minutes then went quietly up the stairs. She was still barefoot, so she didn't make any sound as she crossed the living room floor towards the stairs going to the top floor. She could hear Carmela upstairs in the second bedroom. The professor's voice was muffled, so Sera crept silently to the stairs and started up. She could hear Carmela's voice more clearly as she went further up the steps and noticed that her mentor sounded agitated. She heard Carmela hiss, "…promised me!" and tried to get closer so she could hear the rest.

Sera grimaced in frustration when she accidentally stepped on the creaky step. She knew it was there, but never bothered getting it fixed. She heard Carmela's voice pause, then continue talking in fluent French. Sera barely restrained the urge to hit her head against the wall. The professor had always told her she should take the time to learn other languages, but beyond some basic Spanish, she never bothered. She couldn't even make out the words well enough to repeat them to another person to translate.

Sera sighed and kept going up the steps, this time with more noise. She went to her room and pulled out a T-shirt to change into so that the professor wouldn't think she was spying. As she went past the second bedroom, Carmela opened the door and stuck her head out. Sera smiled and waved and kept back down to the kitchen. She grabbed a plate of food (her workout with Dave and Mitch had made her extremely hungry) and went back down to the basement.

When she got downstairs, she noticed everyone (except Eric, who was asleep on the recliner and Mitch, who was on the phone) huddled around David, who was at the computer. Sera slid between Robert and Lisa and looked at the computer, her plate of fettuccini in her hand. She looked on the screen and saw a scanned piece of paper with some writing scrawled on it. It read:

_**I changed my mind, Sera dear. I think I'll keep Dr. Cameron with me. After all, it's always a good idea to have a doctor around, don't you think? Especially one as bright as Dr. Cameron. That was an excellent clue she gave you, by the way. Her acting performance is to be commended. I had to show her just how much I appreciated her little act. Of course, it was my fault. I should have known that Dr. House wouldn't have any fools working for him. He is, after all, a genius. Any protégé of his would have to represent him well.**_

_**Tell the dear Professor I said hello. And tell her to try to stay away from Dr. House. Associating with him never turns out well for anyone.**_

_**Winston**_

There were red splatters all over the letter. Donna inhaled sharply and asked, "Is that…?" David nodded. "The crime scene guys verified that it was blood. They are going to analyze it to see if it's Dr. Cameron's." Sera stared at the screen for a minute. "Print that out for me, then get up. I need to access the Bureau's mainframe." She looked at Dave who was glaring at her, rolled her eyes, and added, "Please."

David shook his head as he printed out two copies of the letter. "No way, Serenity. You don't have clearance to access the mainframe. Heck, you didn't have clearance when you were actively working with us." Sera made a choking gesture behind Dave's back and glanced over to Mitch for help. He was still on the phone across the room, so she took a deep breath and tried again. Dave could be infuriatingly stubborn and straitlaced when he wanted to be, and it seemed like this would be one of those times. "Dave, I need to research something and I can't find what I need on the 'net. It's very important…and confidential." She added the last part to prevent him from offering to help. She felt like grinding her teeth when he shook his head again. She gave up trying to be nice.

"Look, moron, you can let me use it now or I hack into it later. Which one will make you look less stupid?" David snorted and didn't even bother turning around. "You aren't that good, kiddo." Sera actually did grind her teeth this time. "Fine. I'm not that good. But I don't need to be that good if I know your password." David laughed this time. "I have changed it since the last time I stupidly let you use it and almost lost my job." Sera turned as Carmela made her way down the steps. The woman looked as white as a sheet and didn't join the rest of the group. She sat by herself over by the stereo.

Sera turned to Dave again. "David, I'm very serious. This is a matter of life and death. Allison's….mine…. God only knows who else. Please…I'm begging you. And you know I've never begged you for anything."

David looked into the wide gray eyes staring back at him and sighed. _Even Mitch couldn't deny those eyes_, he told himself as he got up and let Sera take his chair. He got one of the copies of the letter from out of the printer and took it to the others. They had a puzzle to figure out.

Sera stayed at Dave's computer for nearly an hour. She had dug in his "magic" bag (so called because he seemed to be able to fit an endless amount of stuff in it) and found a notepad and pen to jot down the weird things she had been noticing. She alternated between tapping away at the computer, checking her notes, and eating her fettuccini. She ignored Dave's comment about eating over his computer and focused on finding…actually, she didn't know what she was looking for, but she'd know it when she saw it.

Shortly after she started searching through the database, Mitch got off of the phone and came over, pulling up a chair. He spoke to her in a low voice. "The blood on that letter is Dr. Cameron's. They found a large quantity of it in the church, too. Some of it is a few hours old, probably from his temper tantrum earlier, and some of it is relatively fresh. We need to find him soon. He's hurt her pretty badly. The lab boys said that she's lost at least 3 pints of blood. Did you find out anything useful when you went upstairs?"

Sera shrugged. "I overheard something…I don't know yet how useful it is. Carmela sounded pretty agitated and I heard her say… "something, something, 'promised me' something." It was muffled so I couldn't hear all of it. After that sentence, I stepped on the stupid creaky step by accident and she heard me. She switched over to French. I couldn't understand any of it."

Mitch frowned at her. "Well, did you hear enough to repeat it so we can get someone to translate?" Sera shook her head in disgust. "No. It would have been hard enough to do that with a foreign language that I'm slightly familiar with, like Spanish. French…forget it. I did hear her say a name, though…at least I think it was a name. Someone named Phil? Maybe short for Philipe, because she pronounced it sort of…French-ish."

Mitch sighed and glanced at the computer. "What are you looking for?" Sera waited a second to see if he would fuss at her for being in the FBI mainframe. When nothing else was forthcoming she turned the computer towards him. "I'm looking for Dumas. We had to have missed something. I'm trying different variations of his name. I'm looking through birth records that have the name Winston, Alexander, or Dumas."

Mitch picked up her notepad and glanced at what she had written. "You think the professor is involved in this somehow." Sera didn't say anything for a few seconds. She stared into the screen. Carmela had taken her under her wing and given her someone to look up to – someone to admire and seek advice from. The professor had filled the emptiness caused by her own mother's lack of interest in her life. And now she was looking for proof that she was somehow connected with the man who had murdered her sister and her fiancé. She turned to look at Mitch. "I pray that she's not, Mitch. I don't think I could handle that." She turned back to the computer. "But I have to know, either way."

Mitch left her to go tell the others what he'd found out about Cameron. Sera continued to look through the names on the computer, not noticing House's presence until he lightly tapped her with his cane. She thought briefly about whacking him with it again, but decided to save her energy. She spared him a glance before scrolling to the next page. "What do you want, House?"

He asked her, "Why do you think Carmela's involved?" Sera didn't look at him. "You were eavesdropping." House shrugged. "It's what I do." Sera made a quick decision. There _was_ a reason she wanted House involved, so she might as well pick his brains since it was here. She tossed him her notepad. He looked over it quickly and handed it back to her. "Is that it?"

Sera told him that she followed Carmela and overheard a snippet of her conversation. House frowned. "She used to call me names in French. I never told her that I understood her. Do you remember anything that she said?" Mitch had rejoined the two of them and frowned at Sera. "You told _him_?"

Sera rolled her eyes. "Hello? He's a board certified genius. Since we can't get our normal genius on board with this particular problem, we may as well use him. What's she doing, anyway?" Sera glanced over at Carmela, who was still sitting by herself in a corner. Mitch replied, "She claims the food didn't agree with her and is causing her stomach to feel uncomfortable." As if on cue, Carmela stood up, called out to Sera, "Serenity, dear, may I use your bathroom?" Sera nodded and pointed her down the hall.

Sera turned back to House and answered his last question. "I have no idea what she said. It sounded like a bunch of gobbledygook to me. About the only thing I could make out was the word 'bon'. That means 'good', right?" House nodded. Sera took her notepad and wrote. "So we have the words 'promised me' and the word 'good'. There's absolutely nothing we can do with that!" She tossed the pad down in disgust. "Maybe I should just ask her what she said."

House, who had been staring at the door Carmela walked through, said absently, "Cela n'est pas une bonne idée." Sera's head jerked up. "What did you say?" House focused his attention on her. "I said, that's not a good idea. You don't want to tip her off that you susp…" Sera cut him off excitedly. "NO! Say it in French again!" House exchanged a confused look with Mitch then said, slowly, "Cela n'est pas une bonne idée."

Sera grabbed House's face and gave him a smacking kiss on the lips. She heard an Australian-accented voice say, "What the hell…?" She turned to Robert, who was helping Donna re-situate Eric in the recliner and said, "It's okay, sweetie. House just helped me solve a puzzle. I'll tell you in a minute." Robert frowned at House then nodded to Sera. Both Mitch and House rolled their eyes at the two lovers.

Sera spoke excitedly in a low voice. "That's what she said upstairs…or something close to it. I believe there was another word in there or something, but I definitely remember hearing…uh…what you just said." House looked at her disapprovingly. "You know, you really should take the time to learn other languages, especially…" Sera cut him off again. "Ok, can you spare me the lecture, please? This is good. We just have to figure out now who she was talking to and what she thinks isn't a good idea." She paused as another thought occurred to her. "You know, Winston speaks French." Mitch looked at her grimly. "Sera, this isn't looking good. Are you going to be able to do what you need to do if she is involved?" Sera looked Mitch right in the eye. "If she's involved then she's partially responsible for what happened to Jamal and Faith. I'll do whatever I need to do to see that she pays for her crimes."

After a moment of quiet following her declaration, Sera turned back to the computer. "Now, if only I could find out who Dumas really is." House shook his head as something occurred to him. "Wait a minute. You said you talked to his father. Why hasn't he given you a picture or something? Why don't you know anything about this guy?"

Sera smiled grimly. "Well, I was being somewhat facetious when I said that his father was cooperating with us. He is, but it's not very helpful. His father has dementia. He is aware that he has a son, but that's about it. We were able to ascertain that Winston was adopted, but Father Shaw doesn't really remember anything else. He had no adoption papers that we were able to find, nor is there any official record that he and his wife ever adopted anyone. His wife died 18 years ago, and there are no parishioners at the church who remember Winston. Father Shaw lost a lot of his flock when the dementia symptoms started worsening. I doubt anyone knew what was going on, but I can only imagine what the sermons sounded like. There is another priest there who does the actually work at the church now and he also takes care of Winston's father."

House looked over her shoulder at the computer. "You've tried to find Winston Shaw?" Sera nodded. "What about Alexandre spelled the French way?" "Tried that, too." House groaned and leaned back a bit in his seat, stretching his long arms above his head. He looked at Sera hopefully. "I wouldn't mind some coffee about now. It might stimulate my brain cells." Sera was about to tell him to make it himself, but thought about his leg and the number of steps leading to the kitchen. She sighed and stood up. "Anyone want some coffee?" There was a chorus of affirmative responses.

Robert stood up. "I'll help you bring it down." Sera smiled at him and they both went up the stairs. House watched them go, smirking. "Wonder what they're going to do while the coffee brews?" Mitch glanced up the stairs and shuddered slightly as he got a mental image. "Shut up, House."

Sera finished measuring out the coffee into the filter and turned it on to brew. She turned around and gasped as Robert put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "Do you know how crazy that outfit of yours was making me? Why on earth did you put this huge T-shirt on, anyway?" Sera was about to explain the reason behind the T-shirt when he swooped down to claim her lips in a sensual assault that literally took her breath away and made her completely lose her train of thought. Her knees immediately turned to jelly, but he easily supported her. His hands slid down her back to her buttocks and lifted her up so that she was sitting on the counter. Sera tangled her hands into Robert's hair as he caressed her body with his hands. They separated, breathing heavily, as the coffee maker let out a gentle hiss, signaling that the coffee was ready. She leaned her forehead on his, taking big gulps of air.

"Robert, you literally make me weak. Is this normal? I've never felt like this." He smiled. "I have a confession. I've never felt like this either, so no, I don't think it's normal. But not being normal is good sometimes, isn't it?" He grinned at her, causing her to grin back. "Oh, I definitely agree with you on that count." They kissed tenderly and Robert lifted her up and off of the counter. Sera looked at him speculatively. "You know, you're a lot stronger than you look." Robert gave her a funny look. "I'm not exactly sure how to take that…" Sera grinned at him. "It's a compliment, just say thank you." He gave her a little bow and said, "Thank you, milady. I'll be right back. I'm just going to run upstairs to the loo."

Sera busied herself with pouring the coffee into the portable electric carafe and putting the cream, sweeteners, mugs, spoons, and some pastries on a tray. After about 10 minutes, she began to wonder where Robert was. She didn't want to embarrass him by hurrying him off of the toilet, but she wanted to get back to work and she needed his help carrying everything down. She heard a slight noise in the living room. "Robert?" She went slowly towards the living room, wondering why it felt like the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. Before she crossed the threshold to the living room, she had a brief thought that she should go and get Mitch and Dave. She shook her head, thinking she was being foolish.

She reached over and turned on the light. The first thing she noticed was Robert on the ground, a dart sticking out of his neck. The next thing she noticed was a sweet-smelling odor in the room. She tried to move towards Robert but the room began to spin. The last thing she thought before the darkness overtook her was, "Oh, crap!"


	26. Chapter 26

_**Author's note – Thanks again to everyone who reviewed. We're getting close to the end of the story. I just want you to know that I made a change to Chapter 25. I had gotten some misinformation about the French language and I messed up, big time. It was pointed out to me when I posted this at another site, but I totally forgot to change it before I posted the previous chapter. So if you notice something in this chapter that seems a bit different from something that was said in the previous chapter (vague enough for ya?), just go back and skim through chapter 25 until you get to the changed part. Then this chapter will make sense. Or not…**_

_**Oh, and by the way, House and Co. still aren't mine. (sob!)**_

**CHAPTER 26**

Everyone in the basement was milling around, waiting for Sera and Robert to return with the coffee. After about 20 minutes, Mitch frowned in the direction of the stairs. "Maybe someone ought to check on them." House looked gleeful. "I'll go!", he said, standing up and limping towards the steps. Donna intercepted him. "Hold on there, Hop-a-long. I'll go check on them." Donna went up the stairs to the first floor.

She saw the carafe and tray sitting on the counter. She frowned and called out softly, "Sera? Dr. Chase?" Unlike House, she didn't really want to interrupt anything, but she just wanted to see if everything was okay and get the coffee. She headed towards the living room, calling their names again. The living room was dark and she felt along the wall near the door, not wanting to hit her shin _again_ on the stupid coffee table. She couldn't find the switch, so she moved forward slowly. She sniffed. "_What is that smell…it seems familiar, almost like…" _What it seemed almost like flew right out of her head when she suddenly tripped over something on the floor.

Donna landed hard on the floor. After taking a second to get her breath back, she pulled herself to her knees, using the little table by the stairwell for support. She felt her fingers brush something metal and remembered with relief that there was a lamp there. She slid her fingers up, clicked on the light, and turned to see what she tripped over. She gasped in horror at the sight in front of her.

Downstairs, everyone froze when they heard Donna's shout, "Quick, I need some help up here! DR. HOUSE, I NEED YOU UP HERE NOW!!" House, Mitch, and David shared a brief look before House pulled himself out of the chair and made his way quickly to the stairs. Mitch and David came up on either side of him. "May we?" Mitch looked at House for permission. As much as it burned him to need help, House knew he had no choice. He nodded and said, "Hurry." David and Mitch each grabbed House under the arm and helped him to quickly hop up the stairs. Mitch called back to Dr. Andrews, who was about to follow them up. "Stay down there and guard the bathroom. Don't let the professor leave!" Mitch ignored the shocked look on her face and continued helping House. Lisa followed closely behind them with House's cane.

House quickly limped over to where Robert was sprawled on the floor. Donna had removed the dart, touching it as little as possible. She was talking to 911, but handed the phone to Lisa so she could relay the details. House sniffed. "Nitrous oxide? Sevoflurane?" Donna nodded. "Probably a combination of those with the curare dart. His pulse is at 30, breathing shallow and intermittent. He needs O2 immediately." House took Robert's pulse himself and cursed. "Dammit! The combination of the poison and the anesthesia is going to kill him if we don't get him to the hospital soon!" House looked around. "Where the hell is Serenity?" Donna didn't say anything, but she pointed to the floor by the door. There lay a perfect pink rose.

Sera slowly opened her eyes, blinking in the bright light that was shining in her face. She was lying on a bed with her arms and legs shackled. She immediately felt panic. "_Oh, God, no! Please, no! Not again!!_" She saw images of every nightmare she'd ever had about the last time Dumas had captured her. These visions were intermingled with thoughts of Carmela and the memory of Robert lying on the floor, unmoving. She took several deep breaths and allowed the rage and betrayal to sweep through her, driving the panic back. There was no doubt in her mind that Carmela was working with Dumas. She had no idea why, but there's no other way he would have known that curare didn't work on her anymore. She would have kicked herself for her own stupidity if she wasn't practically immobile.

She heard someone moving behind the door in front of her. She assumed there was a hallway outside of the room. She tested her bonds and realized that she had a bit more give in them this time. Her head wasn't free, either. The wrist shackles were way too tight to slip her hands through, unfortunately.

After determining that she wasn't strong enough to break the chains, Sera's thoughts returned to the professor. The only question that still confused her was why. Why would someone as successful and brilliant as Dr. Carmela Ling suddenly join forces with a psychotic murderer? She snapped out of her thoughts as she noticed the doorknob turning. Hopefully, she would get some answers.

House was leaning back in his chair in the diagnostics office, alternating between calling Wilson, who had come in and was keeping an eye on Chase in ICU, looking over Mitch's shoulder as he continued to look for Winston Dumas on the computer and looking at the white board, where he had transferred Sera's notes from her notepad. Since they had no idea exactly what year Dumas was born, or even where he was born, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. "It would have been nice if we had Carmela. I'm sure she could have shed some light on her cohort's whereabouts."

Mitch gritted his teeth. House had been making comments like that ever since they had discovered that Carmela left the house through the small window near the ceiling in the bathroom. "I had never been to Serenity's house before, I hadn't used the damn bathroom since I arrived there, AND, up until she shimmied out the back window, Dr. Ling wasn't an active suspect. What the hell do you want from me?!" Mitch stopped and took several deep breaths. He had already blown up when he discovered the professor was missing. He had sent David and Dr. Andrews, who wasn't even a field agent, out in Serenity's car with instructions to find Carmela Ling and don't show their faces until they did. He had every agent he could get searching the area for her. He had no idea how a woman on foot could elude them.

Mitch sighed and frowned at the computer. "This is pointless. I wish Serenity had caught more of the professor's conversation. Maybe we could figure out what Carmela thought was a good idea and what this "feast" is she was talking about."

House frowned. "Feast? What feast?" Mitch rolled his eyes. "I just said we don't know what that's about." House shook his head in annoyance. "No, I mean, where did you hear about a feast? Why would Carmela be planning a feast now? She's a good cook but it doesn't seem to be an appropriate time for it." "Serenity said that she heard Carmela say something about a feast in the conversation. She wasn't exactly sure, though, and I really didn't get a chance to investigate furth…" Mitch stopped because House was banging his head on his cane.

"Both of you are complete morons!" House glared at the FBI agent, who looked taken aback…and angry. "Did you just call me a moron?" Mitch started to get to his feet. House got up as well, nearly shaking with anger. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about this "feast"? What, you didn't think it was important enough to share this information?" Mitch looked confused, his annoyance at being called a moron temporarily forgotten. "It didn't make sense…we figured she heard wrong…it seemed like a dead end, so…"

"So you made an assumption. Do we really need to discuss how stupid assumptions are at this point?" Mitch's jaw was clenched and he stepped closer to House. "Why don't you make your point, Doctor? Or would you like to insult us some more?"

House rolled his eyes. "Remember when I said 'That's not a good idea' in French and she told me that she heard that, but it might have had another word in it? It was probably your "feast" that she heard. Only Carmela probably wasn't saying "feast". She was saying _fils_, which sounds similar. Carmela probably said, C_ela n'est pas une bonne idée, un fils_." Mitch felt a sense of dread come over him. He was getting a vague flashback from his eighth grade French class. He had to ask anyway. "What does that mean, House?" House looked at him with such raw anger and rage that Mitch almost stepped back. "It means, 'That's not a good idea, SON.'"

Mitch sat down and looked at the whiteboard. All of the dots connected into a big guilty arrow pointing right at his former colleague. He heard a voice say quietly behind him, "I can't believe she betrayed Serenity like that." Donna was standing behind him, looking at the board. Eric was next to her, one hand on her shoulder for support. He still felt slightly dizzy, and had a lot of pain, but the anger that was coursing through him seemed to give him the energy he needed to get up.

Mitch's phone rang and he answered with a sharp, "What?!" He listened for a moment and gritted out, "Well, keep looking!" He slammed the phone shut, barely able to refrain from throwing it across the room. Everyone looked at him, wanting to ask him for an update, but somewhat scared to do so. House finally piped up. "Any luck?" "No", Mitch bit out, turning away from the group and pacing back and forth across the exercise mat. He stopped when they heard Eric's voice from behind him.

"How old is Dumas?" Mitch walked over to him. "We aren't exactly sure. We estimate late 20's to early 30's." Eric looked at him, then at House. "Maybe about 26 or 27?" House narrowed his eyes at his oldest duckling. "What _exactly_ are you trying to say, Foreman?"

As Sera watched, a man walked into the room. He stood close to the lamp that was shining in her face, so Sera still couldn't see him. For some reason, this angered her more than anything else that had happened to her that day. "Are you still too scared to show your face?! You bstard!! You cowardly excuse of a human being!!! Let me see you!! Stop hiding, you son of a btch!! SHOW ME YOUR FACE!!!"

Dumas had the audacity to chuckle at her. "As you wish, my dear Serenity." He reached over and dimmed the light. Sera blinked a few times to clear away the bright dots dancing in front of her eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light in the room, Winston took a step closer to her and, for the first time, looked directly into her eyes. As Sera stared into the familiar, brilliant blue eyes, all of the puzzle pieces fell into place with a chilling, sickening thud.


	27. Chapter 27

**I figured I'd post another chapter tonight so that **_**Green Penguin**_**'s brain doesn't explode! Thank you to everyone who's still reading this. A special thanks to **_**Firetop**_** for pointing out my formatting error. When I type these chapters in word, I put a row of asterisks between paragraphs where there's a change of location or point of view. Apparently, this doesn't always show up on the site when I download a chapter. I'll be sure to check, now, to make sure everything downloaded ok.**

**Dislaimer – House is not mine. Neither is Chase. Or Foreman. Or Wilson. Life sucks.**

**CHAPTER 27**

House sat in his office chair, lights off, twirling his cane, and listening to Puccini. The paper with the DNA results was lying on his desk. He hadn't even looked at it. When David had walked in and laid it on his desk, he said, quietly, "I'm sorry." That pretty much told House what he needed to know. He was desperately trying not to think about the fact that he had apparently spawned Satan.

Instead, he thought about his two fellows who were currently hospitalized because of his…son. He thought about how he had felt last year when Foreman almost died and again when he was stabbed by Dumas. He felt helplessness, despair, anger…not things you feel about someone who means nothing to you. And Chase...his own heart had literally stopped when he saw the young man sprawled on the floor in Sera's living room. He had thought for one horrible moment that Chase was dead. House smiled a bit. Chase had pretty much shocked the hell out of him when he told him off. And he had felt a burst of pride that Chase had finally stood up to him. Pride...like a father feels for a son.

House rubbed his face. '_When the hell did this happen? When did I start caring about these people?' _He looked at the phone and debated whether or not to call ICU again. Maybe he'd page Donna and see if she was able to get Foreman into a bed in the hospital. Anything…anything else to think about besides the piece of paper on his desk.

There was a light tap on the door and Wilson walked slowly into the room. He walked over to the desk and sat down. House looked at him inquisitively. Wilson reassured him, "Chase is going to be alright. They confirmed that he had curare in his system, so they gave him the antidote. He just needs to sleep it off. He only got a light dose of the nitrous oxide and sevoflurane. The combination of that with the poison was a bit too much of a shock to his system, but his vitals have evened out. I tried to get him removed from ICU, but they love him down there and wouldn't let me move him. I figure that they'll take good care of him."

Wilson reached over and picked up the paper. He scanned it quickly and glanced back up at House. He put the paper back down and asked his friend, "You okay?" At House's baleful look, he held up both hands. "Ok, ok…dumb question. What are you going to do?"

House leaned back a bit in his chair. "Well, I figured I'd call the kid up and see if he wanted to catch a game next week. Maybe he could squeeze in some time between murders…" House's voice trailed off. Somehow, that joke fell a bit flat considering Dumas had Cameron _and_ Sera. He got out of his seat and started to pace around the room, limping heavily since he left his cane propped against the desk.

"I can't believe she never told me. How could she just leave and never tell me she was pregnant?" Wilson interrupted him. "You never told me any details. What reason did she give for dropping out of school?"

"Her mother had remarried a few years before to some diplomat…Ambassador Ling. He had to move overseas, and of course her mother went with her husband. Carmela told me that she wanted to go with them. Her stepfather's job would keep him extremely busy and she didn't want her mother to be alone. She moved, sent me a few postcards and letters at first, then we eventually lost touch. I didn't see her until she showed up here today." House glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost 2:00 am. "Well… yesterday."

House sat down and rubbed his hands over his face. "Apparently, she made me the bad guy in the scenario, because Sera looked like she wanted to beat the crap outta me when she realized who I was. "

House looked at the paper on his desk and slowly picked it up. He read it over, then crumpled it up and threw it in the trash. He picked up his cane and leaned on it, the handle under his chin. "Only I could screw up a child that badly without even going near him." Wilson stared at him. "House, don't be an idiot. This had nothing to do with you! Carmela made sure of that! If she had let you into his life, he probably wouldn't be the person he is today."

House snorted. "Yeah…he'd be worse." Wilson rolled his eyes and gave House an exasperated look. "You aren't that stupid, House. There are a lot of things that you don't do right. But I know for a fact that you would be a good father."

"How do you know?" House all but shouted his question. "What have I ever done to indicate that I wouldn't screw up a kid? Hell, I can't even keep from screwing up the people that work for me. Look at Chase. According to Carmela, I treat him the same way my father treated me. I never say anything nice to him, I never encourage him, I belittle and verbally abuse him. No wonder he's so screwed up."

Both men turned when they heard a tired voice from the doorway. "Not everything is about you, House." Robert came into the room in a wheelchair being pushed by Donna. Eric followed behind slowly. Both men were in hospital gowns, although they both had scrub pants on underneath. Donna had a frustrated look on her face.

House stood up and walked over to Donna, towering over her as he asked, "What the hell are they doing here? Both of them need to be in bed!" Donna pulled herself up to her full height and put her hands on her hips. "Don't you raise your voice to me, Dr. House! I know they need to be in bed, but they won't stay there. And Eric threatened to push Dr. Chase down here himself if I didn't help them. They both needed to talk to you, so here they are! Make sure you return them when you're done!" Donna stormed out of the office.

Foreman and Chase both watched her go with bemused expressions on their faces. Chase wheeled himself over to where House was standing while Foreman snagged the other chair in the room. Chase took a deep breath and spoke.

"Look, House, I know I'm screwed up. I've been that way for a long time and it has nothing to do with you. Yeah, you treat me like crap. You're an ss to me 99 of the time. But…the things you say don't hurt me like the things my father used to say. I never got the impression that he cared about me at all. But you…you care. Even when you don't act like you do, you care. And that's what makes you tolerable. That's why we all stayed with you after our initial fellowships were over. Underneath the bstard, there is an actual person. Someone who I admire a great deal."

Foreman spoke up. "If I thought you actually meant even one-fourth of the stuff that comes out of your mouth, I would have kicked your butt a long time ago." He clapped House on the back. "You're alright, House!"

House stepped away. "Whoa, careful there! You never know when a pat on the back might escalate into some horrible group hug or something." Foreman smiled. "Don't worry – if I ever get caught in a group hug with you, I'm going to pack my bags, change my name, and move to Siberia or something!"

House half smiled as he limped over to his chair. As he was about to sit down, something that the neurologist said registered. "Change your name, huh?...hmm…" House looked at Eric. "Find Leggitt. I may have an idea on how we can find Dumas."

-----

Sera lay on the bed, drumming her fingers lightly on the mattress. She had been staring at the ceiling for the past hour, rage, hurt, and betrayal eating her up inside. Although she had suspected something untoward was going on with Carmela, she had no idea the deception ran so deep. Dumas was her son! She absolutely couldn't wrap her mind around that concept.

Dumas hadn't confirmed or denied it when she hurled the question at him. He simply laughed and walked out, saying, "You're the genius, you figure it out." But really, there was nothing to figure out. He was obviously Carmela and House's child. He had House's eyes, chin, and bone structure, but Carmela's lips and nose. The combination made for an extremely good-looking young man. She understood now how he had been able to get all of those women to accompany him to his place, or wherever he committed his crimes. Hell, if she had met him without knowing who he was, she probably would have gone out with him. He had the best features of both parents.

But both parents hadn't raised him. In fact, she didn't even think Carmela raised him. Father Shaw and his wife raised Winston, and she couldn't imagine what that sweet man could possibly have done to screw the man up this badly. She mentally shrugged. "_Some people are just nuts, I suppose_", she thought.

None of these thoughts were helping to ease the burning hate she felt for Carmela Ling. When her own mother had thrown her to the wolves of academia and became completely uninterested and uninvolved in her youngest daughter's life, the professor had stepped in and taken Sera under her wing. She both taught her and nurtured her and filled the void that her mother and later, more violently, her sister, left behind. "_Faith…how could she let that monster hurt Faith? And Jamal? She worked with him, too. Joked with him, mothered him…how could she?" _Sera blinked away the hot tears that were burning her eyes. She was so caught up in her misery that she didn't notice that the window in her room had slid open.

Sera jumped when she saw someone kneel down next to her bed. Her eyes widened when she saw who was next to her. "YOU…!", she began, before a hand was placed over her mouth. It took all of her self restraint to refrain from biting the professor. She jerked her face away from her mentor's hand and demanded, "What the hell do you want? To gloat? To laugh at me for trusting you?"

Carmela frown as she pulled out a little box and pulled a lock pick set out of it. "Actually, I wish you'd shut up. I'm trying to get you and Dr. Cameron out of here. I figure the chances are better at getting her if I have you." Carmela bit her lip in concentration as she attempted to get the lock on the shackles open.

Sera sneered at her. "You never could get the hang of picking a lock. Didn't Dave give up on trying to teach you?" Carmela sniffed disdainfully. "I never thought that I'd be put in a position to have to pick a lock. I believe David tried to teach me simply to alleviate boredom on that particular day. However, this lock has a simple pin-and-tumbler design, so it shouldn't be too hard to do."

Sera tried to keep quiet. As much as she despised her former mentor, she despised being chained up more and she really wanted to get out of there. But she couldn't help but ask the question that had been running through her head since she saw Dumas. "Why? Why didn't you tell us? We could have stopped his killing spree a long time ago. Before he killed Faith and…Jamal." Sera's voice became louder. "How could you?!! HOW?!"

"Shhhhh! I do _not_ want him coming in here." Carmela stopped what she was doing and looked at Sera. "It was never supposed to go this far. I actually did stop him…a lot of times. He would have killed way more than he did. I never knew ahead of time who his intended victim was going to be." She went back to working on the lock as she continued talking. "I was in Munich at that conference that time he kidnapped you. By the time I got back, Jamal had already gone to save you. It was too late to do anything to help him. And Faith…well, that was the first time he had planned on grabbing you. After her comments on 20/20, he decided to make it a two-fer and get both of you. I made him agree not to hurt you. I tried to talk him out of hurting Faith, but he wouldn't listen. He said that he needed to have one of you and I didn't want to see you get hurt. It was the best I could do at the time…"

Carmela had finally opened the lock and the chains fell off of Sera's wrists. Carmela didn't even finish her last sentence. Sera reached over and wrapped her hand around Carmela's throat, crushing her windpipe. The professor started gasping for air.

"The best you could do? THE BEST YOU COULD DO?!! You btch!! The best you could have done would have been to tell all of us that your friggin' son was the murderer. Or that he planned on killing my sister. Or where his house was located. There are so many things that you SHOULD have done in that scenario!! But you didn't, did you? YOU LET THEM BOTH DIE!!"

Sera emphasized her words with violent shakes. She was sitting up on the bed. There were still chains around her waist holding her in place, but she only needed her hands. She looked at the woman on her knees by the bed. Carmela was no longer gasping, but was desperately clawing at Sera's hand, which still had a vise grip on her throat. Carmela's eyes were wide and panicked. Sera felt a rush of satisfaction at the fear in the older woman's eyes. Satisfaction, power, and a blinding hatred. "_I wonder if this is how Winston feels when he kills someone_", she thought. That thought was like a splash of ice water. Sera looked at Carmela, who was barely struggling anymore and, with a gasp, let her go.

Carmela lay on the floor, gasping and choking for air. Sera fell limply back on the bed, in shock over what she had almost done. She sat back up quickly when she heard _his_ voice from the doorway. "What a coward. You don't even have the guts to take care of the woman responsible for the death of your sister and fiancé? Quite frankly, I thought you were tougher than that."

"You call me a coward? You're just angry that I didn't do your dirty work for you!" Sera shot back. She looked over at Carmela, who was getting to her feet. She was still coughing and breathing heavily as she looked at Dumas beseechingly.

"Honey, please don't be angry. I don't care about Dr. Cameron anymore, but I told you not to touch Serenity. I'm going to take her with me, then I want you to take Dr. Cameron and leave. Don't worry about me…I'm sure once I explain the circumstance, my consequences won't be that severe."

Sera looked at Winston as he started to laugh. "Worry about you? Why would I worry about you? In fact, Mother, you don't have to worry at all about what the Feds are going to do with you."

Sera knew it was coming about half a second before Carmela did. But neither of them had time to react as Winston threw the knife he had been holding behind his back. Carmela and Sera both looked in shock at the hilt of the knife protruding from the professor's chest. Carmela only had time to look at him in horror and betrayal before falling to the floor.

Sera closed her eyes. She did NOT just see Carmela get killed by her own son. She heard Winston say softly, "As you can see, Serenity, I don't need anyone to do my dirty work for me." Sera kept her eyes closed. She had thought she wanted the professor dead. She thought she wouldn't care what happened to the traitor. But as she once again felt the tears in her eyes and heard sobs rising in her throat, she realized that she did care after all.

_Okay, this detail that I screwed up (and there have been a few) leaped out at me when I typed this sentence, so let's just say Father Shaw started out as a Lutheran pastor, got married, then later became a Catholic priest. They have to apply to the local bishop, who then sends a special application to the Pope, to get permission. So, that's what Father Shaw did. Sorry for the mistake, but I got so caught up in the story that I forgot the whole no-marriage rule! _


	28. Chapter 28

Sorry for the delay, folks! Internet problems. As usual, I'll post two chapters to make up for it. Oh, and House isn't mine! Duh!

_Previously…_

_Sera closed her eyes. She did NOT just see Carmela get killed by her own son. She heard Winston say softly, "As you can see, Serenity, I don't need anyone to do my dirty work for me." Sera kept her eyes closed. She had thought she wanted the professor dead. She thought she wouldn't care what happened to the traitor. But as she once again felt the tears in her eyes and heard sobs rising in her throat, she realized that she did care after all._

**CHAPTER 28**

After Sera got herself together, she slowly opened her eyes. Winston was still standing over by the door, staring at her. She stared back at him for a while then looked away. "Where is Cameron?"

"Don't worry about her."

"Who said I'm worried? I just asked you where she was."

"She's in the other room. I'm afraid she's a bit…under the weather. She's been very poor company. Sleeping all of the time. Screaming. Bleeding all over my carpet. I don't think she'll be invited again."

Sera rolled her eyes and turned her back to him as best she could. The chains dug into her waist but she didn't care. She wanted to show her disdain for him by showing him her back. She felt something hard under her left arm. She glanced down and saw the lock picks that the professor used to open her wrist shackles. Carmela must have dropped them when she was being choked. "_Choked by me", _Sera thought guiltily. She moved the covers on the bed slightly so that the picks were out of sight. She didn't think Winston would be stupid enough to get that close to her since her hands were free, but she didn't want to take any chances.

Sera knew he was still staring at her. She could _feel_ his eyes on her and it was seriously starting to creep her out. She needed him to stop staring at her and leave the room so she could get out of her leg shackles. She turned back around and met his eyes. His father's eyes. She pushed that thought out of her head and asked him, "So, are you going to kill me?"

Dumas looked at her quizzically. "So blunt and to the point, aren't we?"

Sera eyed him calmly. "I don't believe in playing games or dicking around when I want to know something. Are you going to _kill_ me?"

Dumas tsked at her, shaking his finger in reproach. "'Dicking around'? How vulgar. Really, Serenity, ladies don't speak that way."

He was really starting to tick her off. She snapped sarcastically, "Well aren't you just the prince of propriety and good manners! Hell, you even showed proper etiquette and used the pretty, jewel handled knife to murder your mother. Are you going to kill me?!" She couldn't help but raise her voice a bit.

Winston smiled at her. He moved a bit closer to Serenity until he was just beyond her reach. "You know, I have no idea if I'm going to kill you or not. I haven't planned that far ahead. You see, this is a very fluid situation. Things could change at a moment's notice."

Dumas looked so sincere and earnest, Sera almost smiled. "So, you're just going to keep me here indefinitely until you figure out what to do with me? Well, THAT sounds like a good plan!" Sera ignored his glare. "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't you let Dr. Cameron go? You really don't need her anymore. You have me here."

Dumas snorted. "I don't need her? Have you seen her? She's hot! I'm sure I could find some use for her."

Sera felt a chill go down her spine. There was no previous evidence that Winston had raped his victims, but he was completely deviating from his usual MO, so she realized she couldn't make any assumptions about what he would do next. She threw caution to the wind and decided to try to provoke him into coming closer to her.

"Winston, you are completely insane. You know that? I always did think you were short a few screws, but you've managed to show me that, once again, I've underestimated you. I mean, it takes a special kind of crazy to kill your own mother! And to abuse and rape a helpless woman who's about half your size! Wow! You've far surpassed the level of "nuts" that I had attributed to you."

Sera knew, from previous encounters, that Winston hated to be called crazy. So she wasn't surprised to see the rage that clouded his eyes. She waited as he took two steps towards her. But he surprised her once again when he stopped, backed up, then smiled at her.

"Very clever, Serenity. But then, you always have been bright. Call me anything you want, I don't care. I'm going to visit Dr. Cameron now. Or maybe I should call her Allison, since we are about to become much better acquainted. I'll be sure to leave this door open. I hope you can live with yourself when you hear how I'm going punish her for your insolence."

Sera felt her heart drop to somewhere around her toes. "Winston, NO! Please, don't. Winston? WINSTON!!" She called after him to no avail as he continued out the door, leaving it open as promised. She stopped yelling and listen carefully, taking note of which way he walked and how far down the hall he went. He only took about 6 steps to the right before she heard another door open and Winston's exclamation, "Ah, my dear Dr. Cameron, you're awake!!"

Sera blocked out any other sounds coming from the room. She didn't want to be distracted. She sat up slightly, grabbed the lock picks, and got to work on the locks on her ankles. She had to be careful not to rattle the chains too much since she didn't want that sshole coming back in the room. She got the chains off of her feet and started working on the chains around her waist. This was a bit trickier because it was on the side and she couldn't get a very good angle. After about 5 minutes of unsuccessful attempts, she began to wiggle and slide and press herself into the bed as much as she could to see if she could slide out from under the chains.

After another 5 minutes of careful manipulating, she swung her feet over the side of the bed and stood up carefully. She gave herself a minute to get the kinks and tingles out of her legs before wrapping a length of chain around both hands and slipping quietly down the hall.

-----

Mitch came into the diagnostic department war room, followed by David and Mum. House glanced at Mitch, then back at David and Mum. "No luck?" Mum shook her head while David looked grim. Mitch glanced at Wilson, raised an eyebrow, then looked at House. "I understand you have an idea that might help?"

House glanced at his "boys" then nodded to Skinner. "Actually, I had the beginnings of an idea. Chase, here, helped me refine it a bit. You see, we think Winston has been here for a while…at least a month."

Chase took over the narrative at a glance from House. "Last month I was in the clinic, doing House's hours as usual, and I saw someone get up from his chair to leave. I thought he was tired of waiting, so I called out to him to see if he could be patient for another 5 minutes. He had the hood on his jacket pulled up, so I couldn't see much of his face. But when he glanced at me, the light caught his eyes and I remember thinking that they reminded me of House's, except they were very cold. He told me he was okay and had to run to the bathroom. But he didn't come back."

Mitch looked at him skeptically. "And you think this man was Winston? Lots of people have blue eyes." Chase shrugged one shoulder. "Lots of people don't have eyes _that _blue!" House fluttered his eyes, saying, "Why Robert…I didn't know you felt like THAT." Chase rolled his eyes and continued. "It must have also been something else besides the color. Maybe the shape, the way they were set in his face, I dunno. But something about his eyes reminded me of House. And this was long before I knew he had a son or that a psychopath was on the loose. He also referred to me as a wombat when he was on the phone with us earlier. Now, I could be wrong, since I ignore about 90 of the non-medical stuff that comes out of House's mouth, ("Hey!", House exclaimed) but I don't think he's called me that outside of this room in a while."

House picked up the narrative. "So, since he's been here a while, he had to have bought or leased a house or apartment. Can you get a list of recent rentals or home purchases in the area? I'm leaning more towards a rental, since he probably wasn't planning on staying after he got his revenge."

Mitch grunted. "I could find that information if I had a name, since we weren't able to find Carmela." He didn't look at David and Mum, but they both looked down guiltily. House smiled slightly. "Yeah, I have an idea about that, too."

"You're looking for a birth certificate or adoption papers, right? Did you try using Carmela's biological father's last name? She was sixteen when her mother remarried, and she chose to take her stepfather's name, but she might have used her original name when she had the baby. I can imagine a well-known diplomat would want to keep his daughter's "issues" out of the public eye."

Mitch nodded. "We already tried that. There is nothing for Cecilia Carmela St. James." House frowned, thinking. Everyone was quiet for a minute. They could sense that he was onto something. He brightened and snapped his fingers. "When her mother ended her marriage to her biological father, she went back to her maiden name, although Carmela kept her father's name. Maybe she used her mother's maiden name when she had the baby?"

David smiled and started typing on the laptop he had brought in and set up. After a few keystrokes, his eyes widened. He typed some more, then turned around. "Well, I did find something interesting. She didn't use her mother's maiden name when she had the baby, BUT her mother's maiden name _is_ Winston. And her father's first name is Alexander. I don't know where the Dumas came from, but maybe Winston tacked that part on himself. But it looks like his name is either Alexander Winston or Winston Alexander."

House tapped his cane against the floor. "That doesn't necessarily help us find him. I doubt he rented anything under his own name. My guess is that Mommy Dearest did it for him."

Dave tapped away at the computer. "Well, I'm not finding any certificates of live birth for Alexander Winston or Winston Alexander. Or Carmela's name…any version of it."

Robert's eyes snapped up at that comment. Something that David said sparked an idea. A long shot, and probably related to the stint helping out in the NICU that he had to do 2 weeks ago. But still….it was worth a shot.

"David, try death certificates. They fill them out on stillborn babies. It's possible Carmela's diplomat dad wanted there to be no evidence of her indiscretion."

Dave shot Robert an admiring look then got to work. It only took a few minutes. "Oh my God…I found it. Cecilia St. James gave birth to a stillborn baby boy 27 years ago! I never thought to look under death certificates. That's why there are no official adoption papers. Winston doesn't exist!"

Mitch stepped behind David's chair. "See if there are any house's rented under the name Cecilia St. James." He glanced over at House and his boys. "Good job, guys."

Robert barely nodded. He wouldn't accept any kudos until they found Sera, safe and sound.


	29. Chapter 29

Author's note – We are definitely coming down to the home stretch now. There are, I think, two more chapters then the epilogue. If people seem to like this, I can start posting the sequel called _Serenity's Light_. Reviews would be lovely. They motivate me to continue with this story.

_Disclaimer – If you don't know by now that I don't own House, well… (shakes head sadly)_

**CHAPTER 29**

David tapped at the computer for a few minutes before saying quietly, "Got you, you son of a…wait a minute!" Mitch leaned over him. "What is it?" Dave pointed to the screen. "There are two houses listed here with Cecilia St. James as the owner." Mitch looked where Dave was pointing. House came over and looked, too. He glanced at Mitch. "Those houses are on opposite sides of town. Where do you think Dumas is holed up?"

Mitch shook his head. "I have no idea. We'll need to take two teams. Dave, you get a few agents and head to this house on Fairbanks. I'll go to…" House cut him off. "I'm going with you." Chase spoke up. "I'm going, too." Before Eric could speak his piece, Mitch held up a hand. "This is not a civilian operation. _All_ of you are going to stay here. Dave, get on the phone with the locals and tell them where we're headed. But tell them NOT to go in until we get there."

House stepped over to Mitch. "Look, Agent Leggit. The house on Fairbanks is quite a distance from here – about 10 miles. That doesn't seem like far, but unless you know these side streets, it'll take you at least 25 minutes to get there…even with sirens blaring. On my bike, we can get there in under 15. Fairbanks is closer to Sera's house, too, so that's more likely to be where he took her. Chase can go with Dave and show him the quickest way to get to that house on Burrough St." He looked up at Robert. "It's close to that gym you go to." He glanced over in Eric. "YOU are going back to your bed and staying there."

Eric glared at him. "Either I go with Dave and Chase or I follow you in my car. Of course, if I drive, I may tear stitches and get into an accident on the way. Who knows?"

Mitch growled and looked at the three doctors. He was about to tell them no when Chase said quietly, "Both of the girls may need medical attention. _Immediate_ medical attention. We'll stay out in the cars until you tell us we're needed. Whether we go with you or go without you, we're going. And since we know the shortcuts, we'll get there before you do."

Mitch threw up his hands. "We don't have time for this crap! Fine, you two go with Dave, and House, you're with me. None of you go into the house until you're told! If you do, I will have you brought up on charges of obstruction so fast it'll make your head spin. Is that clear?"

The three doctors all nodded and Robert and Eric pulled off their hospital gowns. They both had T-shirts on underneath. House shook his head in admiration. "You boys planned this, didn't you?" Robert shrugged. "We just wanted to be ready for action." House turned to Wilson and told him to tell Cuddy what was going on. Mitch jerked his head towards the door. "Let's go!"

---

Sera crept slowly down the hall, trying hard not to clank the shackles that were still on her ankles and wrists. She was able to remove the chains holding her to the bed, but the shackles had a more complicated locking mechanism and she didn't want to spend the time trying to get it open. Also, she wasn't ambidextrous, so she doubted she'd be able to pick the lock on her right hand.

After about six steps, she came to a door on the right side of the hall. She didn't stand directly in front of the door, but off to the side so she could listen to determine where in the room Winston was. She could hear the sounds of Cameron screaming and groaning interspersed with Winston's grunts and moans. Sera frowned. The noises sounded…funny. She didn't want to wait too long, but something made her pause. The last time she didn't follow her instinct, she was gassed unconscious and kidnapped, so she decided to take an extra few seconds to figure out what was wrong.

After listening closely, she couldn't determine what exactly was wrong. She didn't want to wait any longer. A few seconds could be life or death for Cameron. She eyeballed the doorknob and lock, determined that it was a basic indoor mechanism that could easily be kicked in, took a deep breath, and stepped in front of the door, saying quietly to herself, "Okay, Sera…here we go."

---

Dave followed the instructions of Robert and Eric, who were, for once, in exact accord as they gave the agent directions. They were followed by Agent Ruth Mix and another agent, who were barely keeping up with Dave. They arrived at the house on Burroughs Street in roughly 10 minutes and everyone exited the cars quietly. Dave turned to the two doctors. "Stay here. Do NOT come in the house!" Dave started to go into the house with Ruth and turned back. "Just in case you need to know, the latch to pop the trunk is on the side of the driver's seat." David, Ruth and the other agent drew their weapons and went around the perimeter of the house, trying to see inside.

Eric and Robert looked at each other in confusion. Robert went over to the car and popped the trunk. He came around, opened it, and peered inside. He looked over at Eric with a grim smile and pulled out a couple of Kevlar vests and two FBI jackets. "Well, looks like we've been unofficially sworn in to duty with the FBI." Eric looked thoughtful. "I don't think you actually get sworn into the FBI, ya know." Chase rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Here, put this on and let's go."

---

House veered in and out of traffic, going up on sidewalks, down alleys, and through red lights. He felt Mitch gripping him tightly, but the agent never told him to slow down. They lost the other car with FBI agents about a minute into the ride, but Mitch anticipated that and had already told the agents to continue on to the house.

They arrived at 394 Fairbanks St. in 12 minutes. Mitch got off of House's bike with shaky legs (that he would deny to the death having) and put the helmet on the seat. House swung himself carefully off of the bike and unclipped his cane. Mitch looked up the street for signs of the other car. House smirked. "They won't be here for at least another 10-15 minutes. Are you waiting for them?" Mitch unholstered his weapon and started walking towards the house. "If I was going to do that, I wouldn't have just suffered the torments of hell riding with you." Mitch stopped when he noticed House right behind him.

"You wait out here, House. That was the deal…" House cut him off and walked past him, swinging his medical bag up on his shoulder. "Deal, schmeal. Are you coming or what?" Mitch heaved a big sigh, looked down the empty street again, then trotted behind House. "Fine, but stay behind me. And try to be as quiet as you can." Mitch went ahead of him, muttering something under his breath about "damn, stubborn doctors". House followed him silently, his thoughts racing ahead of him to what they might find.

---

Sera took a deep breath and kicked in the door. It easily came off of its hinges and went slamming to the ground. Some instinct had her ducking and rolling into the room. She heard a _swish_ and a _thud_ behind her. She looked back and saw a knife quivering in the doorframe where it had imbedded itself. She didn't wait around to see if it had a twin. She did an evasive cartwheel to the side and spun around, squatting. She glanced quickly around the room. "_Holy crap!_", was all that came to mind, as she took her surroundings.

The first thing she noticed was that Winston was alone in the room. There was a stereo with speakers set up around the room. She could hear Cameron's screams and moans coming from the speakers. As she looked quickly around, she noticed that she and Winston must had similar decorating tastes. One wall was completely filled with knives, swords, _sai, shuriken, _and other types of blades. "_Of course, _that's_ the friggin' wall he's standing next to!_", she thought. Another wall contained several kinds of _bo_ staffs, _nunchaku_, a _sansetsukon _(three-sectioned staff), and several other weapons that Sera didn't even recognize. She shook off the sense of foreboding she was feeling and watched Winston carefully. He was standing still, watching her, waiting for her next move.

Sera stood up and made a show of dusting herself off. "Where's Cameron?" Winston merely smiled at her. "Not here." Sera barely refrained from saying, "Well, duh!" Instead, she merely repeated her question. Winston continued to smile as he answered. "She's in another location. She's okay for now. But I believe you and I have some unfinished business first." He took a step closer to the wall.

Sera tried to forestall the upcoming attack. "I don't suppose you could make this fair?" She gestured towards the wall. Winston laughed out loud. "Fair? You expected to waltz in here, dazzle me with your little spins and kicks, beat me half to death, then run off to Tiajuana with your little boyfriend, didn't you? Tell me, was that fair?"

She looked at him incredulously. He really _was _insane. "Well, considering the fact that you've murdered 15….oh, wait – forgot about Mummy…16 people, including my fiancé and my sister, yes, I think it's incredibly fair!"

Sera dodged quickly as he grabbed several _shuriken_ off of the wall and threw them at her in quick succession. One hit the wall behind her, one pinged off of the shackle on her wrist and one hit its mark on her chest. It embedded into the material slightly, but didn't break the skin. She saw him pull a sword down from the wall. "_Damn!_", she thought as she scrambled back from him, pulling the throwing star off of her chest.

Winston had a serious reach advantage, so Sera unwrapped a bit of the chain around her hand to form a kind of chain whip. As she discovered a while ago, she wasn't particularly good with whips. She could hurt someone, but she couldn't wield it with the accuracy she liked. But it was better than nothing, especially since her abductor was bearing down on her with sword in hand. Sera tucked the _shuriken_ in her belt and engaged in battle with Dumas.

The chain swung around her head as she flung it out, hoping to catch him off guard. The chain whipped around Winston's neck and smacked his face…hard. She jerked it, hoping it would stay wrapped around his neck, but it slid off. Winston's face was a bloody mess, but still he kept coming after her. She glanced over at the wall. Winston was staying close to the "blade wall", but maybe she could grab something from the other wall. The only weapon she could use with any type of proficiency on that wall was the _bo_ staff, and she hated the bo staff. It was too long and unwieldy for her 5'1" frame. But it beat the hell out of the chain she was flinging about. She almost hit herself with it as she tried to catch Winston's leg with the chain.

He had skills with the sword and she was having major trouble mounting an offense. She spent all of her time trying to stay away from his blade and not bash her own face in with the stupid chain. She still had the _shuriken_, but she only had one and she didn't want to waste it. She needed an opportune moment.

Winston gave her that moment about 5 minutes later. He was jumping back out of the way of the chain she swung, and for a few seconds, he was wide open. Sera pulled out the _shuriken _and threw it at Winston's face, aiming for his eye. With a lightning fast move, he whipped the sword around and the _shuriken _pinged off and hit the wall behind Winston. Sera blinked. And began to think that perhaps she was actually in serious trouble.


	30. Chapter 30

Author's note: Only two more chapters to go! I think…

_Disclaimer:I do not own House_

_Nor do I own that mouse (rat)_

_I do not own them, then or now_

_I do not own them anyhow_

_I do not own the show House M.D._

_And since I don't, it sucks to be me_

**CHAPTER 30**

Robert and Eric crept into the house, trailing far behind David, Ruth, and the other agent, Agent Dexter. Neither of them had guns, of course, but Robert was carrying the tire iron from the trunk and Eric had a hammer. They tried to be as quiet as possible, but Eric was having trouble walking stealthily. He was still in a lot of pain and trying to avoid pulling his stitches. He knew Donna would give him hell if he came back to the hospital in worse condition than when he left it, and, quite frankly, she scared him more than the serial killer. So, when Robert gestured for him to get down, he only partially complied, bending over until he felt the tug of his stitches.

Both men lost sight of the agents in front of them. They were standing in what appeared to be the living room of a fairly large house. Robert had no idea what Dumas would need with such a large place, and was beginning to feel certain that House and Mitch were actually headed towards the correct house. He was about to suggest to Eric that they head to the other address when a hand suddenly clamped down on his shoulder.

Sera shook off her moment of stupor as Dumas straightened his sword and mockingly saluted her with it. That one action sparked a long-ago memory for her. She had been getting tennis lessons from Jamal and one Saturday, the two of them met up with Dave to play. She had gotten pretty good and Jamal assured her that she was good enough to beat Dave. But she had been losing that day…badly. As she leaned over, resting her hands on her thighs while she got her breath, David had cockily saluted her with his racket. Jamal had gently taunted her from the sidelines. "You aren't gonna let that punk beat you, are you?" She had gone on to kick David's butt in that and every other game of tennis she ever played against him, because she couldn't bear the thought of losing.

Sera focused on Winston, who had an arrogant smirk on his face as he watched her regroup. Although she knew, as a psychologist, that there was something inherently wrong with her need to always win, she still let the echo of Jamal's taunt ring in her head: "You aren't gonna let that punk beat you, are you?" "_No_.", she thought to herself, then repeated out loud, "NO!" Winston looked at her, confused. "No, what?" Sera simply smiled at him. "You'll see."

Sera took the chain around her hand and flung it out at Winston, who raised his sword to block it, as she knew he would. She gave a quick jerk and Winston, who was holding tightly to the sword so he wouldn't lose it, stumbled slightly off balance. She pulled sharply downward with the chain, pulling the sword down towards the floor, then released the chain, while at the same time unleashing a roundhouse kick to the back of Winston's head, sending him staggering to the opposite side of the room. He recovered quickly, but his stumble gave her the second she needed to rush to the blade wall and grab the first thing she could reach, which happened to be the pair of _sai_.

She turned around just in time to block the sword that was trying to take off her head. With a quick series of movements, she blocked Winston's assault and even got in a few strikes of her own. She smirked when she managed to inflict a small cut across Winston's chest. It wasn't much, just a flesh wound, but it was still satisfying to see. Winston jumped back and snarled at her. "Who do you think you are, Elektra Natchios?"

Sera felt anger burn inside of her. The movie _Elektra_ was the last one she and Jamal had seen before he was killed, and her then-fiancé had indeed teased her about her own fighting skills. At the time, she had just reached a level of proficiency with the _sai_, so, despite a not-so-great plot, she totally enjoyed the movie because of the fight scenes. In fact, she had planned on having a special outfit made for their honeymoon that resembled Elektra's ensemble. She had a feeling Winston knew exactly what memories he was stirring up, since he had been trailing her during the period leading up to her first abduction and Jamal's subsequent murder. This certainty that he was baiting her made her literally see red and she flew at him with a fury she'd never shown before.

Mitch put his lock pick back into his pocket and slowly entered the house, his gun drawn. House was close behind him, moving with surprising stealth. The two men walked through the foyer and into the family room. Mitch stopped suddenly and held up his hand. He quietly laid a finger on his lips and gestured up towards the ceiling. House listened and heard what had caught Mitch's attention. House frowned and whispered, "Sounds like metal striking metal." Mitch nodded his agreement and silently, both men crept towards the staircase. House tried to ignore how sweaty his hands were as he gripped his cane tighter.

Robert and Eric barely refrained from yelling when the hand on Robert's shoulder swung him around. Both men relaxed marginally when they saw it was Dave. The agent shook his head at the two men. "You two are about as quiet as a couple of bull elephants, you know that?", he whispered. Robert nodded and whispered back, "Look, mate, I don't think there's anyone here. I think the action is at the other house. Maybe we should…" He stopped as Eric gestured abruptly for him to get quiet. The neurologist's eyes widened and he pointed up towards the ceiling. The other two soon heard what he heard – some thumps and grunts and another noise, not so easily identified. David tilted his head to the side. "It sounds like something hitting against metal." The three men looked at each other and Dave said, "You two stay here." Both Eric and Robert gave him "Yeah, right!" looks and the agent sighed and drew his weapon. "Right. Then stay behind me…and stay close. And for God's sake, don't accidentally hit me with your 'weapons', okay?" Both doctors gave the patented "Foreman eye roll" before following the agent up the stairs towards the sounds.

Sera and Winston's battle was furious and grim. Neither of them wasted time on trash talk or taunts. Both realized that only one of them was leaving the room alive and they were both focused on their purpose. Sera began to feel a kind of desperation as she fought to find an opening. She did exactly what she told Robert she wouldn't do. She underestimated her enemy. She didn't expect to actually have to fight Winston. She assumed the only way he could get a drop on her was with one of his noxious potions. She never dreamed he was at her level of expertise. Actually, she thought that in hand-to-hand combat, she could actually best him, but with weapons, which she only started learning over the past 6 years, he was equal to her. "_No_", she thought dismally, "_Not equal…superior_."

Dumas was getting the best of her in the fight. If she wasn't wearing protective gear, she probably would have been seriously bleeding by this time. He had figured out quickly that her catsuit protected her, so he no longer tried to throw blades at her body. He was now aiming all of his strikes at her neck and head. He had scratched her cheek and nicked the side of her neck, fortunately missing any major arteries. But she was getting tired. She had not completely shaken off the effects of the anesthesia and that combined with the extra weight of the shackles and the fact that she hadn't slept in nearly 24 hours were working to her disadvantage. Her reflexes were off…just a hair, but that was all Dumas needed to make his final move.

Dumas surprised her by ducking under her strike with her left hand and aiming the sword straight for her heart. She knew that a direct thrust from this range would definitely go through her protective suit. She quickly brought the _sai _and trapped the sword's blade in the two projections (_tsuba_) on the sides of the handle. She looked into Winston's eyes, wanting to see his concession to her victory as she prepared to wrench the sword away from him. She never saw his left hand holding the dagger until he had embedded it to the hilt just above her breast.

Sera took a step back from him, looking down at the dagger hilt in shock. She could see the Chinese symbols etched in the handle. "_Faith and Serenity_", she thought numbly. She could feel the liquid bubbling up in her chest and she coughed, dismayed to see the blood spray from her mouth. She went to grab the handle, but somewhere inside her stunned brain, the doctor's voice was yelling, "Don't pull it out, Serenity!" She dropped her hands, both _sai_ slipping from her grip.

Dumas shook the _sai_ off of his sword and raised it, vertically in front of his face, in a traditional fencing salute. He looked sad as he drew back his sword in preparation for the final blow. "Goodbye, Serenity. Believe it or not, I deeply regret this…but, it has to be you or it has to be me." Sera watched in disbelief as the sword swung towards her neck. She wanted to move her shackle-clad wrist to block it, but for some reason her limbs wouldn't move. She could only close her eyes and say a prayer. She opened them quickly when she heard a masculine voice say from the doorway, "I choose you, you son of a btch!" The bullet ripped through Winston's torso, sending him flying backwards, the sword clattering to the floor.

Sera felt a buzzing in her head as she watched the sword fall. Her eyes moved over to where Winston lay. She swayed on her feet as she watched the blood well up from the wound in the middle of his chest and thought randomly, "_Sure hope there's a doctor in the house_" before collapsing backwards into a pair of strong arms.


	31. Chapter 31

_Author's note – Sorry about the last chapter. I forgot to fix the page breaks so the whole dang story ran together. I've gone back and fixed it, so if it was confusing to you, go back and see the new and improved version._

_**Disclaimer – House doesn't belong to me, I'm merely fiddling around with it.**_

**CHAPTER 31**

David went up the stairs, quick and quiet, two at a time with Robert just behind him and Eric trailing in the back. Dave stopped in front of a door where they all heard noises. There was a very loud thump and a hoarse shout of pain. Eric and Robert looked at each other and ran to open the door. David stopped them. Eric looked at him almost frantically. "That was Cameron! We heard her voice!" David told them, "Stand back!" David lifted his foot and kicked the door open. He went in low, followed closely, much to his annoyance, by Robert and Eric. The three men spread out, with David in the middle, holding the gun, Robert on his right, his arm holding aloft the tire iron, and Eric on his left, the hammer at his side. All three men looked around the room and saw Allison Cameron lying on the floor by the bed, her wrists in shackles chained around the brass headboard and a gag partially covering her mouth. Apparently she had been banging the shackles against the headboard, trying to bend the links in the chain. She must have just fallen on the floor, because her arms were stretched over her head and her body was half on, half off the floor.

When Allison caught sight of them, her eyes widened, then closed and her shoulders started shaking. Eric and Robert rushed over to her and Robert lifted her off of the floor and back on the bed. Eric sat next to her, trying to soothe her by stroking her hair. "It's okay, Allison. We've got you now. You're safe. We're here." He gently held her while Robert untied the gag in the back. When the knot was loose, Eric pulled down the gag, expecting to see tears in her eyes when she opened them. He looked down at her and was shocked to see tears alright…tears of mirth.

"Wha…?" Eric looked at her in confusion. Allison was laughing so hard she was nearly gasping for air. She could barely control herself enough to hold her arms up for David to unlock her shackles. The three men were looking at her in utter confusion while she got herself calmed down. Robert gaped at her. "What in the world could you possibly find funny?" Allison took several deep breaths and said, in between chuckles, "When the three of you came busting through the door, you reminded me of Charlie's Angels. The tallest one in the middle, the other two on either side, holding weapons…" she glanced at the tire iron, "…sorta. I know it doesn't make sense, but it just struck me as hysterically funny." She started laughing softly again, but this time the laughter turned into tears and she began to sob. Eric gathered her into a hug and let her cry.

Robert stepped back and was pulled aside by David, who had just finished talking to Agent Mix on his earpiece. "There's an ambulance on the way for Dr. Cameron. And Sera isn't here, Rob. Ruth and Dexter just searched the house and it's empty. Hopefully, she's at the other house." Robert frowned and looked at him. "Maybe we need to call Mitch and House and find out."

-----

Mitch ran over to where Winston had landed on the floor and kicked the sword out of his hand while House gently lowered Sera to the floor. Sera gasped in pain and her eyes fluttered open. She looked at House then her eyes drifted over to Winston. "Check…him…for…more…" She gasped for breath and coughed up more blood. House shushed her and called over to Mitch, "He may be hiding more weapons." Mitch pulled several_ shuriken_ and a 6-inch long dagger from a special belt on Winston's waist. "Ya think?" he said to House sarcastically. He divested the prone man of several more weapons and handcuffed him to a chair in the room. He put ankle cuffs on him, too, just to be safe. He pulled out his phone and called for an ambulance as he knelt down next to Sera.

Mitch gently took Sera's hand. "You okay, kiddo?" Sera struggled to take a breath. "I…want…knife…out" House put his finger gently over her mouth and glared at Mitch. "It would help if she DIDN'T have to answer inane questions right now." Mitch gritted his teeth and mentally reminded himself that if it wasn't for House, they might not have gotten to Sera in time. This thought kept him from reacting to the doctor's sarcasm. "Dr. House, can't we take the knife out?" House shook his head. "I don't know exactly where the knife is. Pulling it out may cause her to bleed out before we can get her to the hospital." Sera reached up and grabbed House's shirt. "P…poison?" House paled. "Was there curare on the blade?" Sera shrugged her shoulders slightly. "Don't…know…ask….ask…." House nodded and gestured to Mitch to get his cane, which he'd dropped when he went to catch Sera.

After he'd gotten to his feet, House hobbled over to Dumas, who was breathing shallowly. House could hear Mitch talking on his phone, telling the other agents, who had just arrived, to search the house for others, especially Dr. Cameron and Carmela. House awkwardly got down next to Winston. He looked at the young man in shock. It was like looking in a mirror from 20 years ago. He saw some of Carmela's features, but there was no denying the boy was his. Identical blue eyes stared at each other for a few moments, then Winston looked away. House leaned closer and asked him, "Was there curare or any other substance on the dagger?" Winston closed his eyes for a moment, struggling to draw in breath. "No. The…blade was…special…didn't…want to….use…. Winston started gasping and coughing up blood. He drew in ragged breaths, keeping his eyes closed so that the room would stop spinning.

House watched the young man, surprised to find that he actually felt a twinge of sympathy for Winston's suffering. He clamped down on it quickly. The man brutally murdered several people and hurt three people that he cared about. He looked over at Mitch and shook his head. "No curare, but keep her still and don't touch the blade." House heard Sera mumble something about being uncomfortable and Mitch shushing her and telling her to suck it up. House smirked momentarily. That sounded like something he would have said.

One of the agents came into the room and reported to Mitch. "The house is empty, sir. There's no sign of Dr. Cameron or Dr. Ling." Both Sera and Dumas tried to speak when they heard this. Mitch put a finger on Sera's lips and told her to shut up. House didn't bother shushing Dumas, who was struggling against the cuffs trying to get up. "The other…room…she's dead…in the…other…" Dumas fell back on the floor, fighting to breath. House, who had gone pale, pulled him up by his shoulders. "Who's dead? WHO?!!" House was shaking him at this point. Winston gasped and whispered, "Mom." House let him go, feeling somewhat relieved. He had thought Winston was talking about Cameron.

Mitch looked at the agent, about to send him back for another look in the bedroom, but the agent cut him off. "Sir, I was about to tell you. We found some blood on the floor by the bed and a bloody dagger, but no body. The crime scene guys are on the way here." Mitch nodded and told the agent to check the perimeter of the house and call in some more people to search the area. "If she's injured, she can't get too far."

House could hear the ambulance in the distance. He looked down in surprise when he felt Winston grab his hand. "House…she told me…you didn't want me…didn't want to…be…a dad. I hated…you…I thought…you didn't want me." The effort of talking clearly took all of Winston's remaining resources and his eyes fluttered. But his grip on House never weakened.

House looked down at his son. "_My son_", he thought angrily. He felt a surge of hatred for Carmela rise up in him as he thought about all of the time he never had with his own son. Maybe…just maybe he could have had a relationship with someone – a relationship that wasn't depraved or twisted or weird. Maybe he could have been an actual good person to someone, perhaps even someone's hero. Not because he saved their life, but just because he was dad. Maybe Winston would have still grown up to be the sick little psycho that he was today, but maybe not. He could feel Winston's pulse becoming slower and weaker and knew that he would never find out. But he did want to tell Winston something before he died. He leaned over, gripped his son's hand tighter, and said in a soft voice so that Mitch and Sera wouldn't hear, "Winston, I want you to know something. I never knew that you existed. If I had known, there is no way in hell she would have been able to keep me from getting to know you. She never would have kept me from my son."

Winston squeezed House's hand tighter for a few seconds, opened his eyes, and looked up at his father. "I'm…sorry. Tell…Sera…sorry…" A single tear trickled down Winston's cheek as his grip slackened and his eyes closed for the last time. House held his hand for a minute, blinking his own eyes furiously. He carefully checked Winston's pulse and made a note of the time of death. As the paramedics came bursting through the door with the gurney and equipment, he let go of Winston's hand and stood up. House looked at Mitch, who had been watching the whole time, and said quietly, "Case closed." He then proceeded to bark orders at the paramedics who were moving Sera.

As he was about to swing his leg over the motorcycle so he could follow the ambulance to the hospital, House felt his phone vibrate again. He had felt it upstairs, but had ignored it. He knew it was Chase and he didn't want to have to tell him about Sera's condition. He flipped open the phone and asked gruffly, "Do you have Cameron?" House closed his eyes for a second in relief, then snapped, "Get to the hospital ASAP. We're on the way there with Sera." He flipped the phone shut before Robert could say anything, started his motorcycle, and pulled out behind the ambulance.

As he drove, his thoughts were racing. He had 3 staff members injured, at least one critically, an ex-girlfriend/baby's momma who was injured and on the lam, and a dead son. As he followed the ambulance into a left turn, he glanced briefly up at the heavens. "_You know, this is so NOT the way to convince me that You exist_", he thought grimly. With dark thoughts and gloomy emotions, Gregory House followed the ambulance back to PPTH.


	32. Chapter 32

Author's note: This is it! The last chapter!! There will be an epilogue then this will be done. Please, if you've been reading this but haven't reviewed, give me your opinion. I know there were many things that I messed up in this story, but I do hope it was entertaining. I have a bunch of thank you's to make in the epilogue.

**CHAPTER 32**

Robert and Eric were in the back of the ambulance with Allison. She had, amid protests, allowed herself to be put on a gurney and taken to PPTH in the ambulance. Robert was trying to get House back on the phone but the infuriating man wouldn't answer. He felt dread building in the pit of his stomach. He'd worked with his boss long enough to realize that if Sera had been okay, House would have made some crude joke or comment. The lack of snark worried him…a lot. He sat next to Eric, chewing on his thumbnail and willing the ambulance to go faster.

Eric held onto Allison's hand as the ambulance drove on. He leaned over and said to her, "Allison, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry he was able to get to you. I…" Allison cut him off. "Eric, it wasn't your fault…" Eric put a finger over her lips to silence her.

"Shh, let me finish. Over the past few months, we've just started to get back on an even keel. When I heard you screaming on the phone, all I could think about was the incident with the article, what I said to you afterwards, and what I did to you when I was sick…" Allison interrupted again. "Eric, don't…" She stopped when she saw the look he gave her.

"No, I need to say this. I know we've covered it already and I know you forgave me. But I really just need to tell you again. You are a special and valued friend to me and I don't know what I would have done if this situation had turned out differently. I regret that I hurt you, I apologize for putting you in danger those months ago when I was sick, and I'm really sorry that I wasn't able to prevent what happened to you yesterday."

Eric squeezed her hand gently. Allison started crying again and leaned her cheek against his hand. Robert, watching them, rolled his eyes and muttered, "Good Lord" before flipping open his phone and trying to call House again. He saw that they had arrived at PPTH and were pulling into the ambulance bay behind another ambulance that had just arrived.

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House pulled his motorcycle around the ambulance and parked off to the side of the Emergency Department entrance. He unclipped his cane and hurried over to the ambulance. His heart stopped when he saw the ER doors burst open and a group of doctors and nurses rush over to the vehicle. As the EMT's pulled Sera quickly out of the ambulance, House noticed that the knife was gone. He pushed his way through the other medical personnel to get to the gurney. "What the hell…!" House started shouting at the EMT, who cut him off as they all hurried into the building. "She crashed on the way in…we had to remove the knife to get her back, but apparently it had nicked an artery…she's bleeding internally, we've got to get her transfused!"

They reached one of the trauma rooms and headed in. House hung back, letting the other doctors into the room. He saw them all rushing around Sera, and in the few moments he looked at her before the door swung shut, he swore he saw Sera open her eyes and give him a wink. The door closed all the way and he shook his head, doubting what he had just seen. House heard footsteps running up behind him and turned to see Robert approaching him, his face pale.

Robert had just hopped out of the ambulance in time to see Sera being whisked quickly into the E.D. and House rushing after her. He had been about to run after them, but had to stop for a precious moment to help Eric down. He left the neurologist with Allison and sprinted after House and Sera.

"House, what's going on? How's Sera?" House looked at Robert's panicky face and turned and slowly started walking towards the physician's lounge. His leg was throbbing from all of the activity over the past day and especially from his little semi-sprint into the E.D. just now. Although his leg was ten times better than it was before the shooting and the ketamine, he had definitely been overdoing it over the past 24 hours. Robert followed him. He wanted to jump on House and shake him until he spilled the info about Sera, but the intensivist could see how pronounced House's limp had become and had seen his grimace of pain when he turned towards the lounge. So he bit down on his questions and followed his boss.

House went into the lounge, which was thankfully empty. He sank into an armchair with a sigh and pulled out his cell phone. "I'm going to call Cuddy down here so I don't have to repeat myself." Robert glared at him and stalked over to the door. "Well, I'm going to go find out for myself what the hell is going on since you won't tell me!" He jerked open the door.

House sat up. "_Damn, I don't feel like chasing after this boy right now_", he thought grumpily before shouting, "Robert! Stop!!" Robert stopped just outside the door, more from the deeply ingrained habit of listening to House rather than any real desire to follow his order. He turned back to the older man and said, "Well?"

House gestured for him to come in. Robert did, albeit reluctantly. "Look, Chase, Sera is in critical condition. You do NOT need to distract anyone by barging in that room demanding answers. I know you want to know everything that went down. I also know that Sera's _best friend_ also wants to know. I was there when it happened and it wasn't particularly a joy ride, so I'd rather not have to repeat myself. Let me call Cuddy and she'll be running down here in her stilettos and bouncing boobs faster than you can say "two dollar hooker". I'll explain everything, okay?"

Robert hesitated a moment then nodded. As House dialed the number, he said to Robert, "This might be a good time to call in a favor from the big guy, you know." Robert looked at him in confusion and House rolled his eyes and pointed up. Cuddy apparently answered the phone, because he began to speak quietly into the phone. His words left Robert feeling more anxious than he already did. If House of all people was telling him to pray, then things were worse than he thought. He sat down on another chair in the lounge and proceeded to follow his boss's advice.

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"Apparently, she crashed on the way in, so they had to remove the knife to revive her. The EMT said that an artery was nicked…I don't know if it happened when they removed the knife or if the damage was done when Dumas stabbed her. They were going to give her a transfusion, since she was apparently bleeding out. I saw Hopkins headed towards her room. He'll probably want to do a thoracostomy. That's it…that's all I know." House leaned back in the chair. It had been surprisingly difficult telling the story. He didn't realize the horror he had felt when he saw Sera get struck with the knife until he had to retell the story to his equally horrified audience. The room was pretty much full. He had called Cuddy, who had Wilson and Donna in her office with her. On the way down, they ran into the FBI agents, who came with them. Eric had come in a few minutes into House's story. House had paused when he entered, raising an eyebrow at him. Eric had simply said, "Allison's okay." House had nodded and continued his story.

Now he was exhausted. He looked around the room. Lisa was being supported by Chase, who himself looked like he was about to faint. Everyone else looked both shocked and saddened by everything that had happened. David was plain ole' mad. He had been pacing during House's story, but when he got to the part where she coded in the ambulance, he had punched a good sized dent right in the wall. Fortunately, it was drywall, so his hand didn't really suffer any damage, other than a few scrapes. David had seemed slightly abashed when he saw Mitch frowning at him. The younger FBI agent was now sitting on the sofa, leaning forward, a bandage on his hand, and his head being supported by his hands.

House looked over at Mitch. "Any word on Carmela?" Mitch shook his head. "I have every agent here in Princeton looking for her. I don't know how she got so far with the injury she apparently sustained." House put his head back and closed his eyes. "She's always been tougher than she appeared." Mitch had no response for that and the room became quiet, everyone lost in their thought while waiting for news on Sera.

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The events of the previous hours began to take their toll as one by one the occupants of the room drifted off to sleep, with the exception of Mitch, Robert, and House. Robert was leaning back on the sofa, Lisa's head in his lap as she snored softly. He felt a gaze on him and turned to see House staring at Lisa. He smiled softly and pulled his jacket up around Lisa's shoulders. "She loves you, you know", he said softly. House snorted. "Yeah, right. No one loves me." Mitch spoke up from his position in a chair by the door. "If you believe that, you're an idiot." House glanced over at Mitch then back to Robert. "If she loves me so much, why doesn't she say something?" "Why don't you?", retorted Robert. "It's obvious that you feel the same way. Or are you scared that she might actually make you happy?" House was about to give a scathing reply when the door opened and Dr. Hopkins walked in.

The sound of the door opening, while not loud, had the effect of an alarm clock. Nearly everyone woke up immediately and got to their feet. Eric leaned over and gave David, who was sprawled in the chair next to him, a tap to wake him up. Within seconds, everyone was up and crowding around Dr. Hopkins. Lisa spoke first. "Ian, how is she?" Ian Hopkins sighed and shook his head slightly. Robert felt his heart drop to somewhere near the soles of his shoes.

"It doesn't look good, Dr. Cuddy, everyone. Basically, the knife lacerated a brachiocephalic branch of the aorta, leading to hemothorax. That was a very good call you made, Dr. House, to leave the knife in. Had it been removed, she'd be dead now. We did a tube thoracostomy, using two tubes, and withdrew 1200 ml of blood right away. We repaired the damage to the blood vessel and some other minor lacerations and evacuated the hemothorax. All indications are that the chest injury will heal just fine, provided we stay on top of things, continue with CT scans to monitor clots and keep an eye out for infections to prevent empyema."

Lisa asked what they all were thinking. "So what part of that doesn't look good?" Ian looked down. "We lost her twice, brought her back both times. Because of the hemothorax, she became severely hypoxic. She also went into v-tach. The last time she left us, we had difficulty bringing her back. A lot of difficulty. She wasn't getting any air…at all. After 3 and a half minutes, I was going to stop, but… I had to try one more time." Hopkins rubbed his hand over his face, hating what he was going to have to say. "She was without oxygen for just under 5 minutes. She's alive, but I don't know what condition she'll be in when she wakes up…if she wakes up."

Robert spoke up. "What do you mean, _if _she wakes up?" Dr. Hopkins looked at Eric. "We have her hooked to an EEG. She kicking out TWs." Eric blanched and House bit his lip, looking down. Mitch looked around at all of the doctors. "What?! What the hell are TWs?" Eric put a hand on Mitch's shoulder and told him. "TWs are triphasic waves. That indicates that she may be in a coma."

-----

Four hours later, Robert was in the room with Sera. Everyone had been taking turns in the room with Sera, but the ICU doctor finally had enough and kicked everyone else out, including Dr. Cuddy. Robert had given them the key to Sera's place and sent them home to get rest, although he doubted they'd go. They, like he, were determined to stay until Sera opened her eyes. He picked up her hand, which normally looked so skilled and capable and now looked delicate and frail. He kissed the palm of her hand and brushed some of the hair out of her eyes.

"I guess we all underestimated what that sshole could do, didn't we? He won't be able to bother you any more. You can finally go back to being Serenity. I've come to love Sera a great deal, and I'm positive I'll love Serenity, too." Robert stopped for a moment when the tears threatened to choke him up. He held her hand up to his cheek, letting his tears fall over her fingers. "You are, without a doubt, the strongest, bravest, most intelligent and beautiful woman I have ever known." Robert became choked up again. "I don't…I don't know what I'll do if I lose you. My…life….it was empty…before I met you, I wasn't whole. You…you have become my everything and I can't…can't…" Robert couldn't go on and he laid his head on the bed and wept.

-----

House watched from the doorway of the room. As soon as he had seen the ICU doctor go into another room, he had made his way back to Sera's room. He could see Robert's shoulders shaking and knew he was sobbing. He watched Sera carefully. If this were a movie, this would be the part where she lifted her hand and placed it on his head. Minutes passed and there was no movement from the bed. House watched for a few more minutes and sighed. Apparently, Chase's God wasn't passing out miracles today. After watching them for another 5 minutes, he realized that Chase had gone to sleep with his head on Sera's bed. He quietly went into the room, snagging a blanket from the closet in the room. He gently placed the blanket over Chase's…Robert's…shoulders. He let his hand rest on Robert's shoulder for a moment then turned around and made his way down the slightly dimmed halls of the ICU.


	33. EPILOGUE

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who reviewed this story. I really try not to nag people about reviewing, but I had over 13, 000 hits (I know this doesn't mean people read it, but still…) and I had 38 reviews for a 32 chapter fic. Now, I'm really pleased that _anyone _reviewed, but just remember, all you folks out there who never push the pretty review button, reviews help a writer improve. Feedback is important. Sometimes it may come in the form of criticism, but that, too, can help a writer improve. So, please remember to give a quick little review whenever you read a story. Not only is it helpful, it can make the writer feel good. Happy writers mean more chapters!

I want to especially thank Firetop (I have a feeling you'll be yelling at me again soon), Green Penguin (haven't seen you for a few chapters – hope your brain really _didn't _explode!), Housefan 101, and geminiginny for your encouraging and frequent posts. You are the reason I didn't abandon this fic when I was feeling discouraged. Thank you SO much! blows kisses

_Disclaimer: The characters of House, MD are the property of David Shore and his posse. I am simply having my wicked way with them for a while._

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**EPILOGUE**

She crept silently into the room, looking left and right for any sign of someone that might recognize her. She had made a mistake yesterday and went to the ICU and was almost spotted for her troubles. She hadn't realized that there had been a room change. Perhaps they needed the bed for someone who they could actually fix.

She went and stood over the bed, staring at the woman lying there who looked….well, to be honest, she looked dead already. The spark and vibrancy that she always carried, in spite of all of her woes, was missing now and it was almost spooky how lifeless she appeared.

The woman standing over the bed had seen Serenity's knight in shining armor, as she called him, leave his lady to go get something (probably coffee) from the cafeteria. He had barely left her side for the past 2 weeks since the stabbing. She closed her eyes for a moment as tears welled up in them.

She knew she didn't have much time, so she opened her coat and pulled out a photo album. She placed it, along with a letter, on the nightstand next to the bed. She gently stroked her finger down the patient's cheek and brushed a quick kiss on her forehead. "I love you very much, sweetie. You were like a daughter to me and I wish so much that I could undo everything. Please forgive me."

With one final look, Carmela turned around carefully, trying to ignore the pain from her stitches, and made her way quickly out the door and down the hall to the elevator, praying that the Aussie wasn't on his way up. She made it downstairs and out the front door and headed into the night.


End file.
